New York Legal Blog

Wrongful convictions in New York are sometimes overturned by the introduction of new DNA evidence not previously available. Anywhere between 3 and 5 percent of serious crimes like murder results in exoneration when new evidence comes to the light. Lesser crimes like aggravated assault and drug possession rarely get overturned due to wrongful convictions.

In a study published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, cases of inmates were examined to determine the prevalence of wrongful convictions. A total of 3,000 prisoners in Pennsylvania were surveyed about being wrongfully convicted. An estimated 6 percent of the prison population was innocent of their convicted crime.

Police in New York say that a 52-year-old Monroe County man was drunk when he attempted to flee from state troopers in the early morning hours of April 20. Reports indicate that troopers were joined by officers from the New York State Police during a pursuit that lasted for between 5 and 10 minutes. The man has been charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, unlawful fleeing, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment, and he faces a raft of motor vehicle infractions and violations.

According to police reports, the man attempted to flee when troopers signaled his vehicle to pull over in the vicinity of East Avenue and Chestnut Street at approximately 3:20 a.m. Troopers say that the vehicle was being driven erratically. Media accounts suggest that the pursuit came to an abrupt halt when the man deliberately rammed his vehicle into a marked police car outside the federal building on State Street.

In New York, possession with the intent to distribute is a crime that combines possessing a controlled substance with the criminal intent to distribute that substance. Possession of a controlled substance on its own is a crime, but typically possession with intent to distribute is punished more harshly. Generally speaking, a prosecutor will look at the circumstances around a defendant's possession of a controlled substance to determine if that defendant intended to distribute the drugs. One of the most important factors is the amount of the drug.

The first element of possession with intent to distribute is that the individual charged must have knowingly possessed the illegal substance. "Knowingly" is the operative word. Willful ignorance of the nature of the subject is no defense, however.

New York drivers could be looking at enhanced traffic enforcement measures if recommendations from the National Governors Association are implemented. The NGA recently issued a report that analyzed road safety in the United States and made suggestions that could reduce traffic fatalities.

The report points out that there were 37,461 traffic-related deaths in 2016 on American roads. Additionally, there were 4.6 million personal injuries related to motor vehicle accidents. Incorporated into the association's report are recommendations from the Governors Highway Safety Association. These include expansion of proven strategies such as sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols during high-risk windows for impaired driving. The report also proposed stronger enforcement of seat belt statutes. While some states allow officers to initiate a traffic stop upon observing a seat belt violation, others require a moving violation to pull drivers over. Seat belt usage is one of the most important factors in limiting traffic injuries and deaths.