People v. Lowe

Hancock, Jr., J. P.

(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. On the authority of People v Hudson (19 NY2d 137,140, cert denied 398 US 944) and our precedents in People v Wright (105 AD2d 1088) and People v Weech (105 AD2d 1085), I would reserve decision and remit the matter for a reconstruction hearing pertaining to defendant’s competency to stand trial.

The rationale for the majority’s decision to reverse without directing a hearing is, significantly, not that a satisfactory reconstruction is impossible but that “the possibility of reconstruction is unlikely” (majority opn, p 305). The existing…