AD1 order dated October 25, 2012, dismissing appeal for failure to prosecute. Smith, J., granted leave July 3, 2013.

ISSUE PRESENTED: Whether the Appellate Division abused its discretion by dismissing the appeal of a defendant taken into custody in 2010, after absconding and being tried in absentia in 1999. A notice of appeal had been timely filed in 1999, and the People had never moved to dismiss the appeal during the time the defendant was absent. (Assigned counsel: Steven Banks, Legal Aid Society, Criminal Appeal Bureau, 199 Water Street, NYC 10038.)

dismissal of appeal from a 1999 conviction where the People had never moved to dismiss during period of abscondence