211-a. Required reports in capital cases. The court of appeals shall promulgate rules to ensure that in every criminal action in which a defendant is indicted for the commission of an offense defined in section 125.27 of the penal law, the clerk of the trial court shall prepare a data report as provided by this section not later than forty-five days following the disposition of the case by the trial court; provided, however, that if the indictment is dismissed, no such data report shall be required. The data reports shall be in a form determined by the court of appeals. Data reports shall be prepared by the clerk of the trial court by reviewing the record and upon consultation with the prosecutor and the attorney for the defendant and after completion shall be forwarded to the clerk of the court of appeals. The form and the content of the report shall be consistent with the purpose of assisting the court of appeals in determining pursuant to section 470.30 of the criminal procedure law, whether a particular sentence of death is disproportionate or excessive in the context of penalties imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime or crimes and the defendant. Data reports developed pursuant to this section shall be compiled into a single uniform capital case data report, which shall be available for use by appellants in capital cases in accordance with disclosure rules promulgated by the court of appeals.
Last modified: February 3, 2019