People v. Burn

113 Misc. 2d 481, 449 N.Y.S.2d 569, 1982 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3323
CourtJustice Court of Town of Rhinebeck
DecidedMarch 25, 1982
StatusPublished

This text of 113 Misc. 2d 481 (People v. Burn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Justice Court of Town of Rhinebeck primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Burn, 113 Misc. 2d 481, 449 N.Y.S.2d 569, 1982 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3323 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Herman H. Tietjen, J.

Defendant was issued a uniform traffic summons for violation of subdivision 1 of section 319 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, no insurance, in addition to two other summonses. At the trial, the arresting officer testified that while on routine patrol on October 1, 1981, he saw a vehicle traveling south on New York Route 9 in the Town of Rhinebeck. He saw that the vehicle lacked a current inspection sticker. The vehicle was stopped and the driver was asked to produce her registration and insurance card. Defendant could not produce either a current registration or insurance card as requested by the trooper. The arresting officer then testified as follows: “When I asked the [482]*482defendant for the insurance card she said ‘she had none.’ Then I asked her whether she had no card or no insurance.” Defendant’s attorney objected to the admission of the last statement on the ground that the People failed to comply with CPL 710.30 in disclosing oral admissions the defendant had made to the public servant. In addition he also objected on the grounds that the trooper should have given defendant the required warning pursuant to Miranda v Arizona (384 US 436). He claimed that stopping of the motor vehicle resulted in depriving the defendant of her freedom of action (cf. Delaware v Prouse, 440 US 648).

This case presents two questions for determination: First, whether a person who is stopped for a routine motor vehicle check must be given a Miranda warning before the arresting officer may testify to an answer given to him in connection with his request of the driver’s vehicle documents and second, whether defendant’s admission that she had no insurance must be excluded for failure of the People to comply with the requirements of CPL 710.30?

The United States Supreme Court in Delaware v Prouse {supra, p 663) held that the police must have an “articulable and reasonable suspicion” that a law has been violated by a motorist before he can be stopped at random. New York’s courts came to this conclusion in People v Ingle (36 NY2d 413). In the instant case, the trooper testified that he observed that the defendant had an expired inspection sticker on her windshield and this expressed an “articulable and reasonable suspicion” that there was a violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law.

The arresting officer requested the driver’s registration and insurance card. This evidentiary material does not call for any personal statement on the part of the defendant. The courts of this State, applying Schmerber v California (384 US 757) have held that Miranda does not protect the use of physical evidence such as sobriety tests against a motorist without first giving a warning (see People v Rosenthal, 87 Misc 2d 186; People v Kates, 53 NY2d 591; People v Thomas, 46 NY2d 100).

Requesting a driver, therefore, to produce his registration and insurance card does not violate Miranda (cf. United States v Brignoni-Ponce, 422 US 873). In Brignoni[483]*483Ponce the court sanctioned limited questioning by the officer of the driver and occupants of the vehicle in order to determine their citizenship and immigration status “and he may ask them to explain suspicious circumstances” (422 US, at p 882). The court deemed a “valid public interest” to exist in determining the citizenship of persons near the United States border. The analogy of the foregoing can be applied to an officer’s questioning concerning whether a driver has insurance. New York has a “valid public interest” in resident motorists using its highways to have financial security in force (cf. Olivio v Government Employees Ins. Co. of Washington D.C., 46 AD2d 437; Vehicle and Traffic Law, § 310, subd 2).

New York’s courts, stating other reasons, have held that Miranda does not apply to vehicle and traffic infractions. In People v Bliss (53 Misc 2d 472) it was held that Miranda did not apply to a vehicle and traffic infraction since a person is not accused of a crime and all traditional constitutional safeguards were not meant to apply (see, also, People v Bailey, 60 Misc 2d 283; People v Phinney, 22 NY2d 288.) In Phinney the issue whether Miranda applied to a vehicle and traffic infraction was presented to the Court of Appeals. The court sidestepped the Miranda issue holding (p 290) that a traffic infraction “ ‘is not a crime’ ”, and all constitutional protections normally offered to criminal defendants should not apply, while on the other hand the rules governing criminal law do apply in vehicle and traffic trials. “Whether or not this includes the right to a warning under Miranda is, however, a question which we need not decide in the present case, since under no view of the facts may it be said that this defendant was in the custody of the authorities at the time he made his statement.” (People v Phinney, supra, p 291.) The court went on to say that a person not actually placed under “arrest” is not deemed in custody when questioned by the police unless “ ‘the questioning takes place under circumstances which are likely to affect substantially the individual’s “will to resist and compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely.” ’ ” (People v Phinney, supra, p 291.) In Phinney the police officer’s questioning took place in a hospital and not on the open road. The court felt that this was not in a police [484]*484dominated atmosphere. Phinney was also decided prior to enactment of CPL 710.30.

In the recent decision of Robart v Post-Standard, (74 AD2d 963, affd 52 NY2d 843) the Court of Appeals reaffirmed the fact that the issuance of a traffic summons does not constitute an arrest (see, also, Farkas v State of New York, 96 Misc 2d 784). Since the defendant was not under “arrest” when she received the traffic summons and there was no showing on the part of the defendant that her “will to resist” had been impaired nor that she was in a “police dominated atmosphere”, this court concludes that Miranda should not apply.

This court believes that the growth of case law around Miranda has distorted its true meaning, that is, to protect citizens from overbearing police activity and warn them in advance of their right to legal counsel. Regrettably, the courts desiring to protect individual rights have gone too far and instead have created a legal web into which not only the police but they too have become enmeshed.

The police officer’s inquiry as to whether the defendant had an insurance card or no insurance card was directed to the discretionary question whether defendant should receive a summons at all. Miranda’s web, as defendant would have it, should be widened to include routine vehicle and traffic matters. This court refuses to add another thread to this already complicated snare.

We now turn to the question of whether defendant’s answer to the police officer’s question regarding ownership of insurance should be allowed in evidence pursuant, to CPL 710.30 (subd 1).

The intent of CPL 710.30 is to make a defendant aware of any incriminating statements which he made to a public servant prior to going to trial (cf. People v Briggs, 38 NY2d 319; People v Greer, 42 NY2d 170).

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Schmerber v. California
384 U.S. 757 (Supreme Court, 1966)
United States v. Brignoni-Ponce
422 U.S. 873 (Supreme Court, 1975)
Delaware v. Prouse
440 U.S. 648 (Supreme Court, 1979)
People v. Ingle
330 N.E.2d 39 (New York Court of Appeals, 1975)
People v. Briggs
342 N.E.2d 557 (New York Court of Appeals, 1975)
People v. Greer
366 N.E.2d 273 (New York Court of Appeals, 1977)
People v. Thomas
385 N.E.2d 584 (New York Court of Appeals, 1978)
Robart v. Post-Standard
418 N.E.2d 664 (New York Court of Appeals, 1981)
People v. Kates
428 N.E.2d 852 (New York Court of Appeals, 1981)
Olivio v. Government Employees Insurance Co. of Washington, D. C.
46 A.D.2d 437 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1975)
Robart v. Post-Standard
74 A.D.2d 963 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1980)
People v. Bliss
53 Misc. 2d 472 (New York County Courts, 1967)
People v. Bailey
60 Misc. 2d 283 (New York County Courts, 1969)
People v. Rosenthal
87 Misc. 2d 186 (New York District Court, 1976)
Farkas v. State
96 Misc. 2d 784 (New York State Court of Claims, 1978)
People v. Baron
103 Misc. 2d 1057 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1980)
People v. Chin
96 Misc. 2d 627 (Rockville Centre Village Court, 1978)
People v. Pender
100 Misc. 2d 846 (Brighton Justice Court, 1979)
People v. Phinney
239 N.E.2d 515 (New York Court of Appeals, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
113 Misc. 2d 481, 449 N.Y.S.2d 569, 1982 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-burn-nyjustctrhinebe-1982.