Brooklyn trial court, attorney erred in criminal case, Appellate Division dismisses indictment
A panel of Appellate Division, 2nd Department judges ordered the indictment of a defendant dismissed after finding that the lower court made a series of serious errors and that the defendant’s counsel was ineffective.
Angel Morales was convicted in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Criminal Term, in 2000, for burglary, criminal trespass, escaping from a hospital where he was being treated after his arrest and criminal mischief. He was sentenced to 16 years to life. Morales appealed his conviction, and in 2003, the Appellate Division, 2nd Department, upheld the conviction. In 2011, Morales sought a petition for a writ of error coram nobis, arguing that the lower court ruling was erroneous because of errors made at the trial level.
Morales, through his court-assigned appellate attorney, Lynn Fahey, contended that the trial court judge erred in his statements throughout the trial and that the judge’s lack of — or in some instances, confusing — instruction to the jury harmed and prejudiced Morales’ right to a fair trial. Fahey’s brief to the court argured that the lower court judge approached the Morales’ trial with a “cavalier” attitude, treating the case as a “mere formality to be disposed of with a minimum of fuss and bother.”