Federal Judiciary

HOLDMAN CENTRAL RAILROAD
By Mark Thompson
markthomp@yahoo.com
Posted 04-09-08

Kings County Justice Robert Holdman kept the Appellate Division busy over the past year reversing convictions entered after plea and sentencing hearings that he oversaw in 2006. The appellate court recently found that Holdman committed some of the same sorts of reversible abuses in another type of proceeding: a parole revocation hearing that he conducted in early 2007.

Actually, what transpired in Holdman’s court when prosecutors sought revocation of Mario Almonte’s probation didn’t amount to a “hearing,” as such a proceeding is defined in the penal code, a unanimous appellate panel found. To begin with, prosecutors offered no testimony but instead relied solely on “certain assertions and updates” provided by a probation officer. Moreover, there was no evidence that Almonte received prior notice of an "added specification" that was handed to Holdman by the probation officer at the so-called hearing. To top that off, Almonte “was not permitted the opportunity to be heard,” the Appellate Division observed, reversing Holdman’s ruling, which sent Almonte back to prison on his underlying conviction, and remanding the case to the trial court for a genuine revocation hearing. People v. Almonte (April 1)

Full post as published by Judicial Reports on April 09, 2008 (boomark / email).