People v. D'Arcy

79 Misc. 2d 113, 359 N.Y.S.2d 453, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1595
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedAugust 29, 1974
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 79 Misc. 2d 113 (People v. D'Arcy) 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. D'Arcy, 79 Misc. 2d 113, 359 N.Y.S.2d 453, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1595 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1974).

Opinion

Edward M. Hobby, J.

The defendant has been indicted by the Grand Jury of Allegany County on 85 separate misdemeanor counts. They consist of 29 counts of official misconduct allegedly committed by the defendant as the elected District Attorney of Allegany County in violation of section 195.00 of the Penal Law; 29 counts of unlawful imprisonment in the second degree in violation of section 135.05 of the Penal Law; 16 counts of endangering the welfare of a child in violation of section 260.10 of the Penal Law; 8 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the third degree in violation of section 170.20 pf the Penal Law; 2 counts of forgery in the third degree in violation of section 170.05 of the Penal Law, and 1 count of assault in the third degree in violation of section 120.00 of the Penal Law.

The defendant makes this motion to dismiss the indictment generally and several of the counts thereof specifically. Six reasons in support of the motion have been advanced by defendant’s counsel. They are treated separately in this decision.

I

A principal contention of the defendant is that section 260.10 of the Penal Law of New York is unconstitutional.

Section 260.10 of the Penal Law defines the crime of ‘ endangering the welfare of a child ”. Prior to amendment, effective September 1, 1970, subdivision 1 provided that:

‘ ‘ A person is guilty of endangering the welfare of a child when:
1 ‘ 1. He knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a child less than sixteen years old, or directs or authorizes such child to engage in an occupation involving a substantial risk of danger to his life or health”. (Italics added.)

By virtue of the noted amendment, the statute was altered to delete the clause u a child less than sixteen years old”, sexless in its expression, and substitute in the place and stead thereof, a clause which differs in its age requirements between a female and a male child.

The statute now provides that:

A'person is guilty of endangering the welfare of a child when:
[115]*1151. He knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a male child less than sixteen years old or a female child less than seventen years old or directs or authorizes such child to engage in an occupation involving a substantial risk of danger to his life or health ”. (Italics added.)

As a consequence of the 1970 amendment, the defendant charges that the statute now contains an ‘ unconstitutional provision discriminatory between persons on the basis of sex ”. On this ground the defendant moves to have those 16 separate counts in the indictment charging the defendant with violations of section 260.10 of the Penal Law dismissed.

In support of his position, the defendant relies heavily on Matter of Patricia A. (31 N Y 2d 83). There, our Court -of Appeals considered the provisions of subdivision (b) of section 712 of the Family _ Court Act. That statute set forth certain conduct which if committed by a “ male less than sixteen years of age ”, or by “ a female less than eighteen years of age” would result in an adjudication that the person was in need of supervision. A 16-year-old female, adjudicated a person in need of supervision under that statute, appealed contending that the statute, among other things, violated the equal protection clause of the State and Federal Constitutions. Noting that under this statute conduct perfectly licit for 16- and 17-year-old boys would be illicit for 16- and 17-year-old girls, the Court of Appeals held (p. 89) that the portion of the statute relating to females between the ages of 16 and 18 was sexually discriminatory legislation and must be stricken as unconstitutional ”.

The defendant notes that a reason for the 1970 amendment establishing a different classification for boys and girls was to reconcile section 260.10 of the Penal Law with other statutes, including those in the Family Court Act (see Supplementary Practice Commentary, McKinney’s Cons. Laws of N. Y., Book 39). As a consequence, the defendant contends that the determination of unconstitutionality in Matter of Patricia A., construing provisions of the Family Court Act, should be applicable to him in construing the provisions of section 260.10 of the Penal Law. Examination of this argument is in order.

Basic, critical and prerequisite to the defendant’s position of unconstitutionality is the defendant’s standing to assert such a contention in this court.

The Supreme Court of the United States has long adopted the rule that one may not urge the unconstitutionality of a [116]*116statute who is not harmfully affected by the particular feature of the statute alleged to be in conflict with the Constitution. That a statute impliedly might be taken as applying to other persons, or other situations in violation of the constitutional provisions is insufficient. The general rule is that a litigant may only assert his own constitutional rights or immunities. (United States v. Raines, 362 U. S. 17; Heald v. District of Columbia, 259 U. S. 114.)

The reason for the cited rule was noted in Barrows v. Jackson (346 U. S. 249, 256) as follows: “ It would indeed be undesirable for this Court to consider every conceivable situation which might possibly arise in the application of complex and comprehensive legislation ’ ’.

While concededly some exceptions have been made to the recited general rule and representative litigation for others has been permitted, the exceptions have been narrow in their application and have dealt principally with instances involving impingement of constitutional rights of expression. A review of exceptions is set forth in United States v. Raines (362 U. S. 17, 22, supra) and in Eisenstadt v. Baird (405 U. S. 438, 444 et seq.). This court has found no exceptions which would be applicable to the case for decision. Ño reason for further relaxation of the rule has been advanced by the defendant or found by the court.

Winters v. New York (333 U. S. 507), wherein a New York penal statute was ruled unconstitutional does not appear to be relevant to the case for decision. Unconstitutionality there was predicated on vagueness and indefiniteness of the statutory enactment. The terms and provisions of the statute in question (Penal Law, § 260.10), in the opinion of the court, are sufficiently fixed and definite to meet the test of constitutionality, to wit: they ‘ ‘ give potential offenders notice of what they may not do ”. See Matter of Patricia A. (31 N Y 2d 83, 86, supra) holding constitutional the provisions of the Family Court Act on the charge of vagueness and unconstitutional only oh the charge of discriminatory legislation.

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Bluebook (online)
79 Misc. 2d 113, 359 N.Y.S.2d 453, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-darcy-nycountyct-1974.