Federal Judiciary

NO PLEAS IN LEGALESE 
By Mark Thompson
markthomp@yahoo.com
Posted 03-26-08

New York County Justice Ronald A. Zweibel, the defense attorney and prosecutor all clearly understood the lingo tossed around at Lester Achaibar’s plea hearing. The trouble is, according to the Appellate Division, there is no indication in the record that Achaibar had a clue what was going on.

According to the transcript, Zweibel and the attorneys agreed that Achaibar’s grand larceny case would be treated as an “open D.” But there was no discussion about the meaning of that term, nor was there any indication that Achaibar was informed about the scope of possible sentencing he faced if he pleaded guilty. The plea, therefore, was invalid, the appellate judges said, reinstating the indictment and sending Achaibar back to court. People v. Achaibar (March 18)

Full post as published by Judicial Reports on March 26, 2008 (boomark / email).