NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A4440
SPONSOR: Schimminger (MS)
 
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in
relation to examination of witnesses
 
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:
To add elderly witnesses, age 75 years or older, to the category of
witnesses who may be eligible to be examined conditionally, pursuant to
Article 660 of the Criminal Procedure Law, in order that such testimony
may be received into evidence at subsequent proceedings in or related to
the action.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
§ 1- Amends § 660.20, subdivision 2, to include witnesses age 75 or
older to be eligible to be examined conditionally as a witness who will
not be amenable or responsive to legal process or available as a witness
at a time when their testimony will be sought pursuant to Article 660 of
the Criminal Procedure Law.
§ 2- Effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In September of 2013 the District Attorneys Association of the State of
New York released a report, "Report of the New York State White Collar
Crime Task Force," that identified several obstacles facing prosecutors
when dealing with elder abuse cases. This legislation is part of a
five-bill legislative package aimed to address those obstacles.
There are nearly six million cases of elder abuse in the U.S. every
year. Only five states account for more than one third of all elder
abuse cases in the nation, and New York State is one of them. As the
senior population is poised to grow significantly over the next decade,
it is almost certain that there will be a steady rise in the number of
elder abuse cases in New York.
Elder abuse crimes can take many forms. The case may involve domestic
violence in which family members or caregivers physically abuse elders
within the home. The largest growing area of elder abuse involves the
financial exploitation of seniors, including con games and scams, in
which older victims are defrauded by relatives, caregivers, fiduciaries
or strangers. Elder abuse victims are often partly or wholly reliant on
the abuser. Many older victims suffer from age-related, degenerative
mental conditions involving cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's
disease or other forms of dementia. The exploitation of a victim's
advanced age is likely to have been the very reason why he/she was
targeted in the first place. In some cases, the older victim may be the
only witness in the case. Sadly, many elderly victims, who appear to be
healthy at the outset of the investigation or the time of arrest, pass
away before the case goes to trial. The elder's death, although attrib-
utable to advanced age, may be sudden and come about with little warn-
ing.
Prosecutors in New York State have seen an increase in the number of
elder abuse cases, but they are presently hamstrung by the void in Arti-
cle 660, as witnesses of advanced age are not eligible to be examined
conditionally unless they suffer from demonstrable physical illness or
incapacity at the time the application is made. In a case prosecuted a
few years ago, an elderly man in his 90s, said to be in good health for
his age, was the victim of a theft by his long-time home aide. He passed
away after the aide's arrest but before the case was presented to the
Grand Jury. The case was prosecuted, but would have been unprovable if
the aide had not confessed (People v. Koroma). In another recent case,
a defendant stole $46,000 from a woman in her 80s, who was not phys-
ically ill. After the aide was indicted, the victim passed away unex-
pectedly. The case was resolved in a misdemeanor plea (People v.
Robeck). These were cases in which the People did not move to preserve
the victim's testimony under CPL 660.20, as the statute does not author-
ize an application for a conditional examination based solely on the
victim's advanced age, if he or she is in otherwise good health.
In order to serve the interest of justice, prosecutors and defense
attorneys should be able to seek to preserve the testimony of witnesses
who are of advanced age. With respect to the issue of what should
constitute advanced age under the statute, data from the Centers for
Disease Control shows that Americans live, on average, 77.8 years. In
light of this finding, the option of a conditional examination for a
witness who is age 75 or older is warranted, given the parameters of the
speedy trial statute and the periods of time that are deemed to be
excludible, under the law.
Offenders should not be able to "game the system" by delaying the trial
in the hope that an older witness will succumb to conditions associated
with advanced age or pass away before trial. A conditional examination
would preserve the testimony of witnesses of advanced age in the unfor-
tunate event that advanced age or an associated degenerative condition
renders them unavailable or incapable of testifying at trial because of
their death, even if they appeared to be healthy at the time of the
defendant's arraignment.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2013-2014: A. 8779/S.7178;
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4440
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 2, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SCHIMMINGER, OTIS, SIMOTAS, ENGLEBRIGHT, GUNTHER,
JAFFEE, CLARK, COOK, BRONSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. MAGEE,
MARKEY, PEOPLES-STOKES, PERRY, SKARTADOS, STECK, THIELE -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to examination
of witnesses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 660.20 of the criminal procedure
2 law is amended to read as follows:
3 2. Will not be amenable or responsive to legal process or available
4 as a witness at a time when his testimony will be sought, either because
5 he is:
6 (a) About to leave the state and not return for a substantial period
7 of time; or
8 (b) Physically ill or [incapacited.] incapacitated; or
9 (c) Of advanced age which, for the purposes of this subdivision shall
10 mean a person who has attained the age of seventy-five years.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01361-01-5