The Third Department affirmed vacatur of a manslaughter conviction where local counsel kept secret a law clerk’s warning that the judge had prejudged the psychiatric defense.
The Third Department held that New York’s red-flag law does not require proof that a dangerous respondent already possesses, can access, or threatened to use a firearm.
The Third Department upheld Ulster County’s apprenticeship graduation requirements for major public works, finding no conflict with state bidding or labor law.
The Third Department reversed one of Rainey’s two terroristic-threat convictions — holding that a private Snapchat message he did not intend to circulate lacked the required intent to intimidate a civilian population — while affirming convictions for Whisper bomb-threat posts and emails threatening a TV news station.
The Appellate Division, Third Department held that the State Police must individually review and justify each redaction in its officer misconduct spreadsheet rather than applying a blanket personal-privacy exemption, while upholding FOIL counsel fee awards for the agency’s unreasonable denial.
Third Department affirms civil confinement under Mental Hygiene Law Article 10, joining the First and Fourth Departments in holding that due process does not require the ‘sexual motivation’ element of a pre-SOMTA offense to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt — clear and convincing evidence is constitutionally sufficient.
Third Department reverses a preliminary injunction that had blocked warrantless inspections of cannabis and hemp retailers, holding that New York’s Cannabis Law inspection regime satisfies the Fourth Amendment’s administrative search exception under the Burger three-part test.