2 No. 86
   The People &c.,
   Respondent,
   v.
   Robert Vernace,
   Appellant.
     _________________________________________________________________

   2001 NY Int. 98

   July 10, 2001

   This memorandum is uncorrected and subject to revision before
   publication in the New York Reports.

   Paul Shechtman, for appellant.
   Alyson J. Gill, for respondent.
     _________________________________________________________________
     _________________________________________________________________

   MEMORANDUM:

   The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

   The Appellate Division's determination that the People established
   good cause for the delay in prosecuting the defendant is a mixed
   question of law and fact for which there is support in the record.
   This case involves a 1981 vicious double murder in a Queens bar, for
   which no one has yet been prosecuted. Three individuals linked to
   organized crime were thought to be suspects: defendant (aka "Pepe"),
   Frank Riccardi (aka "Frankie the Geech") and Ronald Barlin (aka
   "Ronnie the Jew"). While 20 to 25 people allegedly were in the bar at
   the time of the murders, virtually all of them denied seeing the
   crime. Shortly after the murders, the main witness either fled the
   jurisdiction or hid from the police, refusing to cooperate. Another
   witness recanted her identification of Barlin, resulting in dismissal
   of an indictment against him. Riccardi has never been located. The
   Appellate Division's inference of witness fear has ample support in
   the record, placing the good cause issue beyond this Court's further
   review.

   In this State, "we have never drawn a fine distinction between due
   process and speedy trial standards" when dealing with delays in
   prosecution (People v Singer, , 44 NY2d 241, 253). Indeed, the
   factors utilized to determine if a defendant's rights have been
   abridged are the same whether the right asserted is a speedy trial