PEOPLE v. HELTON (2023)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael R. Sonberg, J.), rendered April 25, 2017, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 11/212 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's challenges to his original indictment, which charged his codefendant with a narcotics offense but only charged defendant with a non-narcotics offense, are academic, because that indictment was superseded by an indictment that also charged defendant himself with a narcotics offense, and thus plainly satisfied the requirements for Special Narcotics jurisdiction.  Defendant's claim that the court's alleged lack of subject matter jurisdiction over the first indictment rendered the superseding indictment a nullity is without merit.  At any time before entry of a guilty plea or commencement of trial, a prosecutor may re-present a case to the grand jury and obtain a new indictment, which supersedes the original indictment with respect to any offense charged in the new indictment (CPL 200.80;  People v. Cade, 74 N.Y.2d 410, 416, 548 N.Y.S.2d 137, 547 N.E.2d 339 [1989]).  Because the Special Narcotics Prosecutor had authority to obtain an indictment charging a narcotics offense, and the superseding indictment created the appropriate subject matter jurisdiction, it is irrelevant whether or not such jurisdiction already existed under the first indictment.