Turner v. State of New York

In Turner v. State of New York (50 AD3d 890, 854 N.Y.S.2d 778 [2d Dept 2008], the Appellate Division rejected defendant's argument that claimant, whose judgment of conviction had been vacated in a federal habeas proceeding, failed to establish that the vacatur of his judgment of conviction was based upon the grounds enumerated in Court of Claims Act 8-b (3) (b) (ii). The Second Department held that the findings of the District Court in its habeas ruling were sufficient to satisfy the CPL 440.10 (1) (c) predicate ground for vacatur, in that "material evidence adduced at a trial resulting in a judgment was false and was, prior to the entry of the judgment, known by the prosecutor or by the court to be false" (id. at 892). The court reasoned that it was "implicit in the District Court's determination . . . that the prosecutor was responsible for the perjured testimony at trial . . ." (id.).