People v. Durant

88 Misc. 2d 731, 389 N.Y.S.2d 533, 1976 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2736
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedDecember 8, 1976
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 88 Misc. 2d 731 (People v. Durant) 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. Durant, 88 Misc. 2d 731, 389 N.Y.S.2d 533, 1976 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2736 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1976).

Opinion

Oscar Murov, J.

The defendant is charged with two counts of assault in the second degree under subdivision 3 of section 120.05 of the Penal Law.

He moves to dismiss the indictment pursuant to CPL 210.20 (subd 1, par [e]) upon the grounds that prosecution of the [732]*732within indictment is barred by reason of a previous prosecution. The People oppose defendant’s motion.

For the purpose of the motion, the facts as set forth in defendant’s affidavit are not disputed and are the facts herein found by the court:

On December 24, 1975, the defendant and his wife were driving in their automobile. They were approximately two blocks from their home when they were pulled over to the side of the road by a team of Suffolk County police officers in a marked radio car. Both officers exited the vehicle and each demanded to see a license and registration from both defendant and his wife. Apparently, the officers believed that defendant, who was then seated in the passenger seat had been driving immediately prior to the car being pulled over. Defendant was unable to produce a license pursuant to the direction of the officer and was ordered out of the vehicle. Words were exchanged and a scuffle between the defendant and the police officers thereafter ensued.

As a result of this episode, defendant was charged with five offenses including (1) failure to dim headlights, (2) driving with a revoked license, (3) resisting arrest, (4) second degree assault, and (5) attempted murder.

Defendant was arraigned on the above charges in Suffolk County District Court. He ultimately found himself facing charges arising out of the incident pending in both County Court and District Court.

The affidavit further sets forth an undisputed chronological recitation of events leading to the present state of this matter. So far as it is germane to the within motion, the recital in defendant’s affidavit may be summarized by indicating herein that defendant called attention to the fact that the companion matters were not reflected in the indictment; that defendant suggested that the companion matters then pending in District Court should likewise be tried in County Court; that defendant has maintained throughout he would regard a prosecution of the District Court matter as a bar to subsequent prosecution of the within indictment; that defendant suggested to the Assistant District Attorney that the case in the District Court be presented to the Grand Jury; that the People felt only the resisting arrest charged posed double jeopardy problems and caused such charge to be dismissed; that defendant entered a guilty plea to the driving with a [733]*733revoked license charge in satisfaction of the District Court case.

It is defendant’s contention that all charges arising out of the incident were "joinable” pursuant to CPL 200.20 (subd 2, par [a]) and that a prosecution of charges not so joined is barred by CPL 40.40 (subd 1). Defendant contends his guilty plea to the revoked license charge constitutes a previous prosecution within the meaning of CPL 40.30 (subd 1, par [a]) which operates as a bar to all charges arising out of the same transaction that could have been joined in a single accusatory instrument.

The CPL defines the term "criminal transaction” as: "conduct which establishes at least one offense, and which is comprised of two or more or a group of acts either (a) so closely related and connected in point of time and circumstance of commission as to constitute a single criminal incident, or (b) so closely related in criminal purpose or objective as to constitute elements or integral parts of a single criminal venture.” (CPL 40.10, subd 2.)

The People contend all the charges were not a part of the same "criminal transaction” in that connection in the circumstances of commission, was lacking between the traffic offense and the assaults. They further maintain that the two species of charges do not share common elements and that each is governed by statutory provisions designed to prevent different kinds of evil (CPL 40.20, subd 2, par [b]).

Addressing itself to the People’s latter contention, the court would note that CPL 40.20 (subd 2) was designed to modify the "same transaction rule” derived from Ashe v Swenson (397 US 436) which prohibits a second prosecution based upon the same transaction as a former one. "[A]ware of the pitfalls in so broad a rule (see Fisher, Double Jeopardy, Two Sovereign-ties and the Intruding Constitution, 28 U of Chi L Rev 591, 610-612; see, also, Ashe v Swenson, 397 US 436, 453, n 7, supra), the Legislature followed, and wisely some of us think, the lead of the Model Penal Code (ALI, Model Penal Code, Proposed Official Draft [1962], § 1.09, subd [1], par [c]; § 1.10) and engrafted six exceptions upon it (see CPL 40.20, subd 2, pars [a]-[f]).” (Matter of Abraham v Justices of N Y. Supreme Ct, 37 NY2d 560, 565.) Thus, in New York, offenses arising out of the same transaction may be separately prosecuted provided they are distinguishable from each other in a manner described by any of the six exceptions and are not subject [734]*734to compulsory joinder. "The scope of these limited exceptions is itself limited by the rules regarding joinder of offenses.” (Pitler, New York Grim Prac, p 78; GPL 40.40, subd 1.)

Defendant cites People v Salter (39 AD2d 593); People v Kephart (77 Misc 2d 921); People v Fernandez (43 AD2d 83) and People v Montone (82 Misc 2d 234) in support of his argument for dismissal.

In Salter, consecutive sentences imposed upon conviction of the defendant for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest were modified to run concurrently based upon the Appellate Division’s determination that the offenses were committed as parts of a single incident or transaction.

In Kephart, the defendant was separately charged in District Court and County Court for the possession of hashish. The court found both possessions likely to have been part of a single criminal incident but denied the motion to dismiss on double jeopardy grounds because the lesser charge was disposed of by an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal as opposed to a guilty plea. The court said it would have been obliged to dismiss had the lesser charge resulted in a guilty plea.

In Fernandez, the court determined that the crimes disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault had common elements and should be tried simultaneously when they arise out of the same transaction. (Cf. People v Bynum, 81 Misc 2d 358, distinguishing the facts therein from, and declining to follow, Fernandez.)

In Montone, the defendant, who was allegedly speeding and upon apprehension found to have been intoxicated, found himself charged with one simplified traffic information in District Court and another in Village Justice Court. The District Court information was dismissed as violative of the prohibition against double jeopardy based upon the acceptance of the defendant’s guilty plea in the Justice Court. The court found both offenses to have been a part of the same criminal transaction and that the exceptions to a bar of separate prosecutions (CPL 40.20, subd 2, par [b]) were inapplicable.

The Assistant District Attorney hastens to distinguish Fernandez and Montone from the case at bar. Thus he points out that the offenses in Montone were both traffic matters and the offenses charged in

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Bluebook (online)
88 Misc. 2d 731, 389 N.Y.S.2d 533, 1976 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2736, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-durant-nycountyct-1976.