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Decided on September 7, 2007
City Court of Rochester

People of the State of New York, Plaintiff,
against
Diane M. Arenas, Defendant. People of the State of New York, Plaintiff,

Kevin G. Stokelin, Jr., Defendant.

People of the State of New York, Plaintiff, v
against
Kevin G. Stokelin, Jr., Defendant.









07-6171
Appearances:John D. Marchioni, Esq., for defendant Diane M. Arenas.
Edward J. Nowak, Monroe County Public Defender (Bronwen Van Hooft, Assistant Public Defender, of counsel), for defendant Kevin G. Stokelin, Jr.
Michael C. Green, Monroe County District Attorney (Vikram S. Vilkhu, Assistant District Attorney, of counsel) for plaintiff.
Ellen Yacknin, J.


INTRODUCTION
The arraignment unit of any city court in New York State is undeniably frenetic and fast paced. On any given morning in the Rochester City Court, between fifty to seventy-five defendants are arraigned on misdemeanor and violation charges before a single judge. While most defendants are either accompanied at arraignment by [*2]retained or assigned counsel, many remain unrepresented until a later court appearance. These two cases illustrate the special care a prosecutor must exercise at arraignment to ensure that his or her interactions with an unrepresented criminal defendant are scrupulously observed and adequately documented, regardless of how busy the docket may be.
Specifically, defendants in both cases move to preclude the introduction of statements they made to the police for lack of service of those statements within fifteen days of arraignment, as mandated by NY Criminal Procedure Law

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New York Law