According to a Daily News story reported on November 17, 2009,murders are down in New York City. There were 399 murders compared to 452 homicides
same time last year, which is an 11% decrease. Even with the number of
cases down, the number of cases solved is now only around 50% compared
to 70% two years ago and 92.5% in 1998. New York police sources who were
interviewed in the article attribute the decrease in the number of cases
being solved to the fact that there are fewer police officers and detectives,
and there has been more emphasis and focus on fighting terrorism. Police
investigators say that red tape, more paperwork and cracking down on overtime
is making it more difficult to solve crimes as well.
If you are arrested for
murder in New York, you can be charged under New York Penal Code, Article Section
125.25, with murder in the second degree or under Section 125.27 with
murder in the first degree, which are Class A-1 felonies.
Murder in the second degree is when a person causes or intends to cause the death
of another person. A death that results during the commission of a felony
such as robbery, rape whether the person is acting alone or in group is
also considered murder in the second degree and is punishable with 15
years imprisonment life and a fine up to $15,000.
Murder in the first degree is when a person causes or intends to cause the death
of a person and that person is a police officer, a peace officer, employee
of a correctional institution, a person who was a witness to a crime and
the death was intended so the witness could not testify or was retribution
for previous testimony of a crime or to preventing or influence the person
not to testify by killing an immediate family member, there is a contract for
murder between the defendant and another person, the defendant acted in an unusually
cruel manner by inflicting torture on the victim, the victim was a judge
or the defendant committed an act of terrorism causing the victim's
death. You could face a sentence of 15-25 years in prison, a life sentence
without parole or the death sentence for a first degree
murder conviction.
Case Example:
On November 19, 2009, the New York Court of Appeals overturned the murder
convictions of two men, Danny Colon, 45 and Anthony Ortiz, 39 who have
each been serving prison sentences of 19 years for the drive-by-shooting
and murders of two men and two others who were injured on December 8,
1989 in lower Manhattan. The incident was said to have been drug related.
The two defendants received 25 years to life sentences. The Appeals Court
has ordered new trials for the men ruling that the Manhattan prosecutor
improperly withheld information from the defense attorneys and misled the jury.
At the 1993 trial in the New York State Supreme Court, the prosecution
presented to witnesses, one was Anibal Vera, who was a childhood friend
of Colon. Vera testified that Colon confessed to the killings and that
Ortiz helped him. Vera was cooperating with prosecutors because he had
been arrested for drug possession in 1990. The prosecutor in the Colon
and Ortiz cases, Ms. Finerty, told jurors she did not help or have anything
to do with the lenient two and one-half year to five year sentence that
Vera received for his conviction. However, Judge Graffeo wrote in the
recent Appellate decision that Ms. Finerty helped relocate Vera's
grandmother and that she failed to give defense lawyers notes from her
interviews with two witnesses who identified other men as the killers.
The Manhattan district attorney's office is standing by the convictions
which they claim were obtained fairly.
A charge of
murder in the second degree or
murder in the first degree in New York is a serious crime. It is recommended
that you hire a
New York criminal defense attorney to defend you. If the crime was committed and
there was another person involved or committed in a group and you were
part of the group, the attorney can argue a defense that you did not commit
it or aid in the crime, that you were not armed with a deadly weapon and
had no evidence or reason to believe that any others in the group were
carrying a deadly weapon or were going to commit murder or seriously injure
the victim. Other defenses that your attorney can argue if you are accused
of committing a murder crime alone are insanity, duress or self-defense
in order to get the charges reduced and dismissed. The attorney may challenge
the testimony of forensic experts such as medical examiners, ballistics,
fingerprint examiners, toxicolologists, chemists and crime scene investigators
or argue that the prosecuting attorney withheld evidence or violated other
procedural rules when applicable to get the charges dismissed.