Boikess v. Aspland

247 N.E.2d 135, 24 N.Y.2d 136, 299 N.Y.S.2d 163, 1969 N.Y. LEXIS 1490
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 27, 1969
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 247 N.E.2d 135 (Boikess v. Aspland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boikess v. Aspland, 247 N.E.2d 135, 24 N.Y.2d 136, 299 N.Y.S.2d 163, 1969 N.Y. LEXIS 1490 (N.Y. 1969).

Opinions

Burke, J.

Appellants are faculty members of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, in Suffolk County. They have been subpoenaed and requested to appear before the 1968 Suffolk County Grand Jury, which was impaneled solely for the purpose .of investigating possible drug abuses on the university campus. The District Attorney, acknowledging that appellants are targets of that inquiry, caused the subpoenas to be issued so that he could—according to appellants — proffer the following questions:

1. Have you ever used illegal drugs with students?
2. Have you ever advocated to students the use .of illegal drugs?
3. Have you ever discussed with an administrator your advocacy of illegal drugs or your use of drugs with students ?

Upon receipt of the subpoenas and after learning of the purpose and scope of the contemplated inquiry, the appellants commenced the present action to quash these subpoenas. Their application was denied and that denial was affirmed by the Appellate Division. The constitutional question raised by petitioners permitted an appeal as of right to this court.

Before proceeding with the merits of this litigation, it should be noted that the denial of an application to quash a subpoena, [139]*139instituted in the County Court, is a final and appealable order. (Matter of Inter-City Assoc. [People], 308 N. Y. 1044; Matter of Ryan [Hogan], 306 N. Y. 11, 17.)

Appellants contend that prospective defendants or targets of a Grand Jury investigation may not be compelled to attend a Grand Jury hearing. This proposition is implicit, we are told, in the recent decisions of both this court and the United States Supreme Court. Specific reference is made to our decisions in People v. Steuding (6 N Y 2d 214) and People v. Laino (10 N Y 2d 161). We begin therefore by discussing those decisions.

In People v. Steuding .(6 N Y 2d 214, supra), an employee of a company involved in the sale of road oils to various Highway Superintendents in Ulster County was deemed, for purposes of that appeal, to be a prospective defendant or target of a Grand Jury investigation of corruption of that county’s public officers. The witness appeared and testified, without invoking his privilege against self incrimination, then contained in section 2447 of the former Penal Law. The majority of this court there concluded that “ a prospective defendant * * * may not be called and examined before a Grand Jury and, if he is, his constitutionally-conferred privilege against self incrimination is deemed violated even though he does not claim or assert that privilege.” (6 N Y 2d, pp. 216-217, supra; emphasis added.)

People v. Laino (10 N Y 2d 161, supra) was merely a logical extension of Steuding. In Laino, the defendant was a target of a Grand Jury inquiry concerning violations of the State Tax Law. The defendant and his books were subpoenaed before that body where he unequivocally demanded complete immunity prior to answering any questions. Upon receiving that immunity, he testified freely. Subsequently, that testimony was used as the foundation of an unrelated prosecution for income tax evasion. In setting aside that conviction, this court stated: “In such a case the subpoena is deemed to be a form of compulsion, and the testimony thus compelled may not be used against the defendant as a basis of an indictment, or any other purpose ” (10 N Y 2d, pp. 170-171, supra). Both of these decisions are clear in their requirement that the defendant or target be both called and examined in order to receive immunity from self incrimination. They are, therefore, inapplicable to the case before us.

[140]*140The question then arises whether we must go beyond the prior decisions of this court and adopt the rule, proposed by appellants, that subpoenas issued to prospective defendants be quashed prior to an appearance before the investigating body. The Supreme Court has recently (had occasion to comment upon the breadth of the privilege against self incrimination which accompanies a prospective defendant when he testifies before a Grand Jury. (Gardner v. Broderick, 392 U. S. 273; Sanitation Men v. Sanitation Comr., 392 U. S. 280.) While the Supreme Court did not deal specifically with the problem posed by the present appeal—as the subsequent discussion will make clear —■ nevertheless, it is an essential underpinning of these decisions that a public employee who is a target of an investigation may be subpoenaed by a Grand Jury and the issuance of that subpoena does not of itself constitute a violation of the employee’s Fifth Amendment rights.

The appellant in Gardner was requested by a Grand Jury investigating alleged bribery and corruption of police officers to waive his privilege against self incrimination at the time of his examination. When he refused to sign the waiver, he was discharged. The court held that this discharge could not stand. (392 U. S. 273, supra.) This rationale was carried over to the companion decision in the Sanitation Men’s case, wherein the court concluded that public employees, like all other persons, are entitled to the benefit of the constitutional protection against self incrimination and, when called before a Grand Jury, may not be faced with the Hobson’s choice of surrendering their constitutional rights or their jobs. (392 U. S., p. 280, supra.) In light of the above, we conclude that the Fifth Amendment does not extend to the present situation. On the contrary, there is no discernible reason for holding that a prospective defendant or target may not be compelled to at least attend a Grand Jury investigation.

The additional argument is advanced that appellants should not be made to respond to the subpoena because they are teachers and thus are entitled to protection from such inquiry under the First Amendment. We are specifically referred to the Supreme Court decisions in Keyishian v. Board of Regents (385 U. S. 589) and Domhrowski v. Pfister (380 U. S. 479). In Pfister, each of the appellants had been indicted for violating [141]*141section 364(7) of the Louisiana Subversive Activities and Communist Control Law by failing to register as members of a Communist-front organization. Certain appellants were also individually indicted for violating other provisions of that law. However, no prosecutions had been secured and, indeed, no prosecutions had even been commenced. The argument was, therefore, advanced that the appellants ’ constitutional' rights were not adequately protected despite the possibility of vindication in the anticipated- prosecution. (380 U. S., p. 485.)

1 ‘ [A] substantial loss or impairment of freedoms of expression will occur if appellants must await the state court’s disposition and ultimate review in this Court of any adverse determination.

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Bluebook (online)
247 N.E.2d 135, 24 N.Y.2d 136, 299 N.Y.S.2d 163, 1969 N.Y. LEXIS 1490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boikess-v-aspland-ny-1969.