BILL NUMBER: S8772

SPONSOR: PERSAUD
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to jury deliber-
ations

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To allow the use of written jury instructions by criminal court juries.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Tiarah Poyau
Act".

Section 2. Section 310.30 of the criminal procedure law, as amended by
chapter 208 of 51 the laws of 1980, is amended to allow courts the
option to provide written copies of jury instructions to the jury when
requested. Before giving to the jury such written instructions regarding
              

the elements of any offense or of any defense or affirmative defense,
the court shall permit counsel to examine such written instructions,
shall afford counsel an opportunity to be heard, shall mark such written
instructions as a court exhibit and shall read the instructions to the
jury.

Section 2. The enactment date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation seeks to amend section 310.30 of the Criminal Procedure
Law to allow a trial judge, without the consent of the parties, to
provide a deliberating jury, upon its request therefor, with written
instructions regarding the elements of the crime or crimes charged, or
of any defense or affirmative defense submitted in relation thereto.

Sections 310.20 and 310.30 of the Criminal Procedure Law specify the
materials that may be provided by the court to a deliberating jury,
which include exhibits received in evidence as may be permitted by the
court (CPL section 310.20(1)), a verdict sheet (CPL section 310.20(2)),
a written list of the names of the witnesses whose testimony was
presented during the. trial (CPL section 310.20(3)) and, under certain
circumstances and with the consent of the parties, copies of the text of
a statute (CPL section 310.30).

It is not uncommon, especially in complex prosecutions involving numer-
ous counts with multiple defendants, for a deliberating jury to ask the
trial judge to provide it with written instructions on elements of some
or all of the offenses submitted, and any related defenses. However,
because there is nothing in existing CPL 310.30 that would expressly
permit a court to provide the jury with these materials, a trial judge
who complies with such a request, especially without first obtaining the
defendant's consent, may be committing reversible error. See, generally,
People v. Damiano (87 N.Y.2d 477 (1995)); People v. Johnson (81 N.Y.2d
980 (1993) and People v. Owens (69 N.Y.2d 585 (1987)). This measure
would amend CPL section 310.30 to expressly permit a trial judge to
respond to a deliberating jury's request for written instructions

regarding the elements of one or more of the crimes or defenses submit-
ted by providing the requested materials to the jury.

Under the measure, there would be no need to obtain the Consent of the
parties prior to such submission, but counsel for both parties would be
permitted to examine the written instructions and be heard thereon, and
the documents would be marked as a court exhibit, prior to their
submission to the jury.

Moreover, before submitting the written instruction, the judge would
have to once again read the instruction to the jury. This measure would
facilitate the deliberative process by allowing a jury that so requests
to take into its deliberations written instructions regarding the
elements or defenses submitted for its consideration.

This legislation is named in honor of Tiarah Poyau, a young woman gunned
down at a festival in Brooklyn in 2016, whose murderer escaped
conviction on charges of murder and manslaughter, but was eventually
convicted of criminally negligent homicide. It is vital that juries
understand the underlying principles of the laws they are sworn to apply
when determining innocence or guilt, in order to apply the laws as they
were intended.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately, and shall apply to all trials
commenced on or after such effective date.