§ 211-a. Required reports in capital cases. The court of appeals shall
promulgate rules to ensure that in every criminal action in which a
defendant is indicted for the commission of an offense defined in
section 125.27 of the penal law, the clerk of the trial court shall
prepare a data report as provided by this section not later than
forty-five days following the disposition of the case by the trial
court; provided, however, that if the indictment is dismissed, no such
data report shall be required. The data reports shall be in a form
determined by the court of appeals. Data reports shall be prepared by
the clerk of the trial court by reviewing the record and upon
consultation with the prosecutor and the attorney for the defendant and
after completion shall be forwarded to the clerk of the court of
appeals. The form and the content of the report shall be consistent
with the purpose of assisting the court of appeals in determining
pursuant to section 470.30 of the criminal procedure law, whether a
particular sentence of death is disproportionate or excessive in the
context of penalties imposed in similar cases, considering both the
crime or crimes and the defendant. Data reports developed pursuant to
this section shall be compiled into a single uniform capital case data
report, which shall be available for use by appellants in capital cases
in accordance with disclosure rules promulgated by the court of appeals.