Relates to the effect the death of a defendant has on a pending appeal

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Republican18

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Dean Murray says this is needed

In 2016 a jury convicted Dante Taylor of the brutal first-degree murder of Sarah Goode, a young single mother from Medford in Suffolk County. Taylor appealed his conviction, but died in prison while serving his sentence of life without parole before his appeal was resolved. Under the legal doctrine of abatement ab initio, Taylor's death while appealing required that his original conviction be dismissed, despite the fact that he was already serving a life sentence and that the appel- late division never even ruled on whether his appeal had any validity. Therefore, according to New York State law, no one has been convicted of the murder of Sarah Goode. This is a gross injustice to Sarah's memory, her surviving daughter, and other family members. Dante Taylor lost the presumption of innocence once he was convicted. When appealing a judgement, the burden of proof shifts to the person convicted. Dismissing the conviction, regardless of whether the appeal has any merit, denies crime victims the justice they rightly deserve. It is an affront to trial judges and all members of the judicial system who sincerely strive to deliver due process. Other states have already moved to correct this injustice. In Massachu- setts, the murder conviction of disgraced NFL start Aaron Hernandez was vacated and all charges against him were dismissed after he committed suicide while appealing his conviction. This led Massachusetts in 2019 to abolish abatement ab initio and re-instate his conviction.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.