Corcoran v. State

56 Misc. 2d 293, 288 N.Y.S.2d 801, 1968 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1784
CourtNew York Court of Claims
DecidedJanuary 29, 1968
DocketClaim No. 45790
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 56 Misc. 2d 293 (Corcoran v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corcoran v. State, 56 Misc. 2d 293, 288 N.Y.S.2d 801, 1968 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1784 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1968).

Opinion

Carolina K. Simon, J.

Claimant in this action for damages for false arrest and imprisonment was a resident of Brooklyn at the time the events complained of in this action occurred. He had been licensed in 1949 by the State of New York as an automobile dealer. He also had been licensed by the City of New York in the same year as a second-hand dealer in automobiles. Claimant stated that he had also been engaged in the sale of new and used cars in New Hampshire for a major automobile manufacturer, and that he bought new cars from other dealers and sold and delivered between 252 and 258 cars.

He testified that a strike in a car parts plant in April of 1949 prevented him from making deliveries of the cars he had sold, and that he had turned over to two Brooklyn car dealers the deposits he had accepted from his customers. Claimant stated that complaints were made to the Kings County District Attorney, and that on May 17, 1949 two detectives visited his home during his absence and asked for and received from his wife all his business sales records. No search warrant was shown to her and no receipt was given to her for the material taken.

Mr. Corcoran consulted his attorney and arranged to appear personally with him in the District Attorney’s office. He was arrested there, taken by detectives to Manhattan Police Headquarters to be photographed and fingerprinted, and then taken to the District Attorney’s office in Brooklyn where he was questioned and then remanded to Raymond Street Jail. The next day, May 19, 1949, claimant appeared before a Magistrate and pleaded not guilty. Bail was set at $250,000. Mr. Corcoran was [295]*295unable to supply such bail, and he remained in Raymond Street Jail for two months. In the intervening period he appeared before a Supreme Court Justice on a writ of habeas corpus, and bail was reduced to $80,000. He was also unable to supply bail in that sum.

Claimant stated that he asked to appear before the Grand Jury but was refused permission to do so by the Assistant District Attorney in charge. He remained in Raymond Street Jail until October, 1949. Meanwhile two indictments for grand larceny, first and second degree, were handed down by the Grand Jury, and Mr. Corcoran was advised by his then attorney to plead guilty to three counts of one indictment in order to avoid a trial and the probability that the adverse newspaper and television publicity, which already had appeared, would result in an excessively severe verdict. He pleaded guilty as advised, and was sentenced to three concurrent terms of 5 to 10 years. He was warned, he testified, that if he went to trial he might get a ‘ ‘ 500 year sentence and never see his family again ”.

On October 20,1949 he was received at Sing Sing Prison where he remained confined until his transfer to Wallkill Prison on March 21, 1950. He remained at the latter institution until December 22, 1952, on which date he was paroled.

Mr. Corcoran testified that he remained on parole until May of 1957. During that time he experienced some difficulty in obtaining employment and keeping a job due to his record, and also because the terms of his parole prevented him from traveling as certain available jobs required. The claimant testified that, while on parole, he requested the Federal Internal Revenue Service to obtain all his books and records held by the Kings County District Attorney’s office and to examine them. He stated that he was advised by the Federal Service after its examination that all the funds he had collected and which were the subject of the complaints were fully accounted for by him, and that he had not retained any of these moneys for his personal use or benefit.

On May 24, 1957, claimant was declared delinquent by New York Parole Board Commissioners as of October 15, 1956. He was sent to Greenhaven Prison as a parole violator where he was held, except for his appearances at hearings.

The Department of Correction in a letter dated February 25,1964 stated that claimant ‘ ‘ was received in Sing Sing Prison on October 20,1949, and transferred to Wallkill Prison on March 21,1950. He was paroled December 22,1952, declared delinquent October 15, 1956, and returned to Sing Sing for violation of parole on May 27, 1957, owing 2 years, 7 months and 18 days [296]*296delinquent time, expiring on Jan. 15, 1960. According to our records he served the full sentence, which expired on the above date.”

On July 14, 1959, claimant petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. This writ was issued on July 24 and sustained by a Supreme Court Justice in Dutchess County after a hearing. From the order dated November 25, 1959, sustaining the writ, the following excerpt is quoted: “ and it appearing that the present commitment of the relator from the County Court of Kings County on September 14, 1949 is improper in that the Clerk of that Court failed to comply with the requirement of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 480, and a true extract from the minutes of said sentence having been submitted to the Court from which it appears that there was no compliance as aforesaid and after hearing the relator in person ”.

Claimant was remanded to Raymond Street Jail in Brooklyn where he remained until he was released on January 15, 1960, the maximum expiration date of his sentence. Two years later, in the Summer of 1962, a hearing was held before the Kings County Criminal Court Judge who had originally sentenced Mr. Corcoran in 1949.

At the 1962 habeas corpus proceeding, which was combined with a motion for leave to withdraw a guilty plea, claimant’s counsel argued that the sentence should not have been imposed. He made three main points:

1. Claimant had asked to appear before the Grand Jury but was not requested to sign the written waiver of his constitutional rights, nor did he do so.

2. .Claimant pleaded guilty, although the evidence against him was seized in violation of his constitutional rights.

3. The delay in sentencing resulted in a denial of claimant’s right to due process of law.

In his decision, the Criminal Court Judge stated that Mr. Corcoran had been deprived of substantial rights at the original trial, that he had been a first offender with ‘ ‘ a perfect record ’ ’, that he had not personally benefited from the crime, and that he had forfeited substantial benefits accumulated by him during service in the Naval Reserve forces, and that he had completely rehabilitated himself, despite the hardship of a felony conviction. The Judge granted leave to withdraw the plea of guilty and dismissed the indictments in a memorandum decision dated October 18,1963.

Mr. Corcoran sues the State of New York for damages resulting from an illegal arrest, indictments, conviction and sen[297]*297tencing, and alleges that he was illegally confined for a total period of 10 years and 8 months. He seeks $200,000 for loss of earnings from May, 1949 to November, 1963, $500,000 for loss of reputation, $500,000 for deprivation of civil rights for 14 years, and $500,000 for humiliation and mental anguish resulting from the foregoing,— a total of $1,700,000.

The notice of intention to file a claim was timely filed with the Clerk of the Court of Claims on January 24, 1964 and the claim itself was filed on October 29, 1965. It has neither been tried, brought before any other court or tribunal, nor has it been assigned.

Claimant alleges that the trial court erred in failing to comply with section 480 of the Code of Criminal.

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Related

Wallen v. State
863 S.W.2d 34 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1993)
Corcoran v. State
30 A.D.2d 991 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 Misc. 2d 293, 288 N.Y.S.2d 801, 1968 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1784, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corcoran-v-state-nyclaimsct-1968.