The People of the State of New York ex rel. Michael J. Harty v. Edward M. Fay, as Warden of Green Haven Prison

Summary

The Court of Appeals held that an inordinately long and unexplained delay in imposing a criminal sentence causes the trial court to lose jurisdiction, so a sentence imposed over six years after a guilty plea is void and grounds for habeas corpus relief. Rejecting the U.S. Supreme Court's waiver-based rule in Miller v. Aderhold as unpersuasive in New York, the court announced that New York places no duty on a defendant to demand sentence, and that jurisdiction should not depend on the defendant's activity. The rule is limited to extremely long and unreasonable delays. Judge Fuld concurred in result only.