People v. Castania

73 Misc. 2d 166, 340 N.Y.S.2d 829, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2206
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedFebruary 22, 1973
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 73 Misc. 2d 166 (People v. Castania) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York County Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Castania, 73 Misc. 2d 166, 340 N.Y.S.2d 829, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2206 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1973).

Opinion

David 0. Boehm, J.

The defendants have been jointly indicted on the charge of promoting gambling in the first degree, in that on or about October 17, 1971, at the Town of Irondequoit, New York, they engaged in bookmaking and received, or accepted in one day more than five bets totaling more than $5,000. Both were arrested November 5, 1971 upon an arrest warrant signed November 4, 1971.

Several motions have been brought by the defendants seeking diverse relief.

One, a motion to compel the District Attorney to supply the defendants with a transcript of their conversations seized pursuant to an eavesdropping warrant, was previously denied. Their motion for discovery and inspection of the eavesdropping warrant and its supporting papers and the recordings and tapes, including logs and memoranda thereof, of the defendants’ conversations was granted.

It is appropriate to note that such discovery was permitted pursuant to subdivision 3 of CPL 700.50, rather than article 240, as requested. I read section 700.50 as mandating disclosure of any conversations intercepted by a wiretap. To read it otherwise, as permitting disclosure only as a court may from time to time decide is in the interest of justice, would seem to be in direct conflict with the clear requirement of Aldermam v. United States (394 U. S. 165, 184).

In granting such discovery, it was necessary to make the determination that the defendants were aggrieved persons with standing to move under article 710 to suppress the conversations seized and such a finding was made. The wiretap was of the defendants’ telephone and the conversations intercepted and recorded were held through that telephone. Most of the conversations were of the defendants themselves.

The defendants have also brought a motion to suppress based upon multiple grounds. They will be taken in order.

First, is an application to suppress the conversations intercepted pursuant to the eavesdrop order of October 14, 1971 authorizing the wiretap of the defendants’ telephone. It is urged, generally, that the order was defective, issued without [168]*168probable cause, and was improperly executed. Some of the points raised by the defendants have been resolved by the Court of Appeals decision in People v. Gnozzo (31 N Y 2d 134) decided after the first motion was brought. Nevertheless, there are .still several open questions which are troublesome but which do not require decision here. Although raised, they are not determinative of the application, yet they should be referred to, if only briefly, because of the important issues they raise.

The defendants question the authority in the wiretap order given to the District Attorney to designate the law enforcement agency to execute the wiretap. Such discretion would seem to be in conflict with subdivision 5 of CPL 700.30, and should not be permitted.

The defendants further question the unrestricted authority given in the wiretap order to those executing the wiretap to continue to intercept conversations until the full 30-day period has terminated. "While the statute is clear that a wiretap should not last any longer than is necessary to achieve its objectives, and in no event “ longer than .thirty days” (CPL 700.10, subd. 2), the time during which such wiretap continues must .reasonably relate to the kind of conversations being sought and the crime involved. In this case, where the suspected crime involves extensive gambling activity it does not appear unreasonable to allow the tap to continue the full 30 days. Indeed, the Court of Appeals so indicated in People v. Gnozzo (31 N Y 2d 134, supra).

However, in the future, it might be better practice to use the provision of subdivision 1 of CPL 700.50 which requires periodic progress reports. This would inhibit such 24-hour-a-day, 30-day warrants from turning into the general warrants frowned upon by the Fourth Amendment (see, e.g., United States v. Todaro, CR1970-142, W. D. N. Y. 1971; United States v. Norman Joseph, CR1971-2, W. D. N, Y. 1972; United States v. Appoloney, CR1971-22, W. D. N. Y. 1972).

Defendants also attack the eavesdropping order and a prior • eavesdrop order upon which the instant one is bottomed as not having been issued upon the requisite probable cause. Particular criticism is directed at the conclusory statements in the affidavits and the staleness of the intercepted telephone calls which furnished the only grounds for obtaining the prior wiretap order upon which the instant order is based.

The defendants also seek discovery of the telephone conversations intercepted pursuant to the prior eavesdrop order of [169]*169■September 24, 1971 on the ground that this order and the conversations obtained thereby laid the groundwork for the wiretap order of October 14, 1971 which resulted in obtaining the defendants ’ conversations.

The defendants also seek to suppress because of the failure of the District Attorney to personally serve written notice of the issuance of the eavesdropping warrant and the other information required to be included in such notice by subdivision 3 of CPL 700.50 upon “ the person named in the warrant and such other parties to the intercepted communications as the justice may determine in his discretion is in the interest of justice.” No notice was personally served upon either defendant. It was mailed,to defense counsel. Further, such notice was not given pursuant to judicial order but was handled by the District Attorney according to his own discretion. This was clearly error and might have required suppression upon this ground alone, as excellently discussed by Justice Frank J. Kronenberg in People v. Tartt (71 Misc 2d 955; see, also, People v. Holder, 69 Misc 2d 863; contra People v. Di Lorenzo, 69 Misc 2d 645, 652).

• However, it is not necessary to decide upon any of the grounds recited above, since the defendants’ application for a suppression hearing with respect to the conversations intercepted as a result of the eavesdrop warrant of October 14, 1971 was granted. Such hearing has been held and the six police officers of the New York State Police and City of Rochester testified. The seven tapes made of the defendants’ telephone tap were introduced into evidence as were the daily logs made by the police officers.

The testimony at the hearing and the exhibits in evidence make it apparent that the eavesdropping warrant was improperly executed.

The percentage of nonpertinent to pertinent calls recorded is 23.6%. The testimony of the police officers and the exhibits containing a summary of their monitoring notes show that of 5,054 feet of recorded telephone calls recorded, 1,205 feet contained nonpertinent conversations, busy signals, misdialing, no-answers, etc. These were telephone calls from 3 p.m. October 15, 1971 to 1:30 p.m. November 2, 1971.

On the other hand, Detective Joseph Perticone testified, and Exhibit 2 indicates, that the total footage recorded during the period of the wiretap was 4,901 feet, of which 917 feet were of nonpertinent calls. This would reduce the percentage of nonpertinent calls to 18.7%.

[170]

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Bluebook (online)
73 Misc. 2d 166, 340 N.Y.S.2d 829, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-castania-nycountyct-1973.