People v. Chang

86 Misc. 272
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedMarch 29, 1976
StatusPublished

This text of 86 Misc. 272 (People v. Chang) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Criminal Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Chang, 86 Misc. 272 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1976).

Opinion

Max H. Galfunt, J.

The defendants move to suppress certain evidence which the People seek to introduce at the present trial. The defendants presently are being tried for obscenity. The defendants contend that the People are estopped from introducing the evidence of alleged acts of sodomy due to a prior acquittal of the defendants on a charge of consensual sodomy. The point raised by the defense appears to be unique in this jurisdiction.

The factual pattern of the situation evolved as follows:

The defendants were initially tried on the charges of consensual sodomy (Penal Law, § 130.38) and promotion of obscenity1 (Penal Law, § 235.05, subd 2). These charges arose from one performance of a show in which the defendants were participants. The defendants were subsequently tried. On the issue of consensual sodomy, the defendants were acquitted; on the charge of promoting obscenity, a hung jury resulted.

Thus the defendants are now in the process of being retried on the offense of promoting obscenity. At the present trial, the prosecution will seek to introduce evidence that would include testimony regarding the alleged acts of sodomy.

The defense claims that due to the acquittal on the charge of consensual sodomy in the initial trial, introduction into evidence of a description of the alleged sodomous acts is improper. The defense also alleges that introduction should be barred on the basis of double jeopardy and collateral estoppel.

A brief discussion will readily demonstrate that the offenses with which the defendants are charged are two separate offenses.

[274]*274A person is guilty of consensual sodomy "when he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another person” (Penal Law, § 130.38).

"Deviate sexual intercourse” can be defined as sexual conduct between two persons consisting of contact between the penis and the anus, the mouth and penis, or the mouth and the vulva (Penal Law, § 130.00, subd 2). Such conduct is consensual sodomy, the charge upon which the defendants were acquitted.

A person is guilty of obscenity in the second degree when, knowing its content and character, he "produces, presents or directs an obscene performance or participates in a portion thereof which is obscene or which contributes to its obscenity” (Penal Law, § 235.05, subd 2).

The definition of "obscene” is' found in subdivision 1 of section 235.00 of the Penal Law, and states as follows: "Any material or performance is 'obscene’ if (a) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that considered as a whole, its predominant appeal is to the prurient interest in sex, and, (b) it depicts or describes in a patently offensive manner, actual or simulated: sexual intercourse, sodomy, sexual bestiality, masturbation, sadism, masochism, excretion or lewd exhibition of the genitals, and (c) considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value. Predominant appeal shall be judged with reference to ordinary adults unless it appears from the character of the material or the circumstances of its dissemination to be designed for children or other specially susceptible audience.” (Emphasis added.)

Therefore, the elements of obscenity in the second degree consist of knowledge of the contents of an obscene performance (i.e., one that contains the three elements contained in the definition) along with participation in a portion of such a performance.

Consensual sodomy consists of consenting adults engaging in deviate sexual intercourse. Therefore, it can be readily seen that consensual sodomy and promoting obscenity consist of differing elements and are two separate and distinct crimes.2

[275]*275In the defendant’s memorandum of law, the contention is made that acquittal of a lesser included offense bars prosecution of the greater offense. This court will not disagree.

There is no question of the doctrine of collateral estoppel applying in criminal cases (United States v Oppenheimer, 242 US 85; Sealfon v United States, 332 US 575). Collateral estoppel means simply that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit (Ashe v Swenson, 397 US 436; Matter of McGrath v Gold, 36 NY2d 406; People v Cunningham, 62 Misc 2d 515).

There is no question here of relitigating consensual sodomy. This court has no quarrel with the concept behind estoppel— that once fairly tried, an issue resolved should not be subject to retrial. The thrust of collateral estoppel is that conviction (or decision) is conclusive proof of the same facts implicated in the prior litigation (Read v Sacco, 49 AD2d 471).

The prior decision of acquittal on the consensual sodomy charge was not a statement to the effect that the defendants did not perform certain acts. The acquittal said, in effect, that the evidence presented by the People, including testimony as to the defendants’ performance, did not, in the opinion of the jury, constitute the offense of consensual sodomy. How the jury reached that determination is not known (whether it did not believe the defendants did the acts, or believed the acts did not constitute the specific offense charged).

The situation presently before this court is analogous to Commonwealth v Moon (30 AD2d 704 [Penn]). The court there held that a formal acquittal of a charge of adultery did not constitute a bar to a prosecution for assault and battery with intent to ravish, although the latter charge was based on the same act as that involved in the former prosecution. The court reasoned that the prior judgment of acquittal in the former prosecution did not negate the facts which were the basis of the second prosecution, and there was no fact involved in the former prosecution that was essential to a conviction in the latter case.

Justice Holmes, in United States v Oppenheimer (242 US 85, 88, supra), set forth the equitable framework in which the doctrine should be considered: " 'Where a criminal charge has been adjudicated upon by a court * * * [the] adjudication, whether it takes the form of an acquittal or conviction, is final [276]*276as to the matter so adjudicated upon, and may be pleaded as a bar to any subsequent prosecution for the same offense * * *. In this respect the criminal law is in unison with that which prevails in civil proceedings’ (Emphasis added.)

It has not been shown that the facts presented sub judice have already been fully tried and are necessary to the judgment in the earlier trial (see Sealfon v United States, 332 US 578, supra).

The defendants also contend that the evidence in question to be presented would place the defendant in double jeopardy. Collateral estoppel differs fundamentally from double jeopardy. Double jeopardy is based on the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States and in the Constitution of the State of New York, i.e., the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and section 6 of article I of the New York State Constitution, as well as in CPL article 40. Collateral estoppel has no such constitutional or legal basis. Collateral estoppel is a procedural concept; a rule of evidence (Abbate v United States,

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Burton v. United States
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United States v. Oppenheimer
242 U.S. 85 (Supreme Court, 1916)
Sealfon v. United States
332 U.S. 575 (Supreme Court, 1948)
Abbate v. United States
359 U.S. 187 (Supreme Court, 1959)
North Carolina v. Pearce
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397 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Serfass v. United States
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People v. Acevedo
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McGrath v. Gold
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People v. Gines
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Covington v. Supreme Court
21 A.D.2d 822 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1964)
Read v. Sacco
49 A.D.2d 471 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1975)
People v. Rothfeld
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People v. Cunningham
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Bluebook (online)
86 Misc. 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-chang-nycrimct-1976.