People v. Esposito

144 Misc. 2d 919, 545 N.Y.S.2d 468, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 499
New York Supreme Court·Decided July 26, 1989·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Felice K. Shea, J.

John Esposito, former Police Chief of Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company, has been indicted and charged with computer trespass in violation of Penal Law § 156.10 (2) (17 counts), unauthorized use of a computer in violation of Penal Law § 156.05 (17 counts), falsifying business records in the first degree in violation of Penal Law § 175.10 (8 counts) and official misconduct in violation of Penal Law § 195.00 (1) (3 counts). All charges arise from the alleged misuse of the New York State Police Information Network (NYSPIN), a computer system containing individual criminal histories. Defendant moves for an order seeking dismissal of the indictment on multiple grounds.

charges of official misconduct

Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment against him presents the issue of whether the "benefit” intended to be obtained by a public official charged with official misconduct under Penal Law § 195.00 must be personal to the defendant. Counts 10, 33 and 39 charge defendant with official misconduct, on different dates and concerning different individuals, as follows: "and the grand jury aforesaid, by this indictment, further accuses the defendant of the crime of official misconduct, in violation of Section 195.00 (1), committed as follows: That defendant, a public servant, to wit: an officer of the Metro-North Police Department, on or about [date specified] in the County of New York, with the intent to obtain a benefit for the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, committed an act relating to his office but constituting an unauthorized exercise of his official functions, to wit: caused the New York State Police Information Network Computer service to be used to obtain criminal history information about [individual named] for a purpose not connected with the administration of criminal justice, knowing that such act was unauthorized.”

Section 195.00 (1) of the Penal Law defines official misconduct as follows:

"A public servant is guilty of official misconduct when, with intent to obtain a benefit or to injure or deprive another person of a benefit:

[921]*921"1. He commits an act relating to his office but constituting an unauthorized exercise of his official functions, knowing that such act is unauthorized”.

Penal Law § 10.00 (17) states that " '[b]enefit’ means any gain or advantage to the beneficiary and includes any gain or advantage to a third person pursuant to the desire or consent of the beneficiary.” Penal Law § 10.00 (17) permits "person” to be defined as a corporation or governmental instrumentality, where appropriate.

Analysis of the statutes, read together, makes it clear that a public servant, to be guilty of official misconduct, must intend to obtain a benefit to himself. While Penal Law § 10.00 (17) defines a benefit as "including] a * * * gain or advantage to [another] person”, a fair reading of these words compels the conclusion that the benefit to another person (or entity, where appropriate) must be at least indirectly of benefit to the accused, as, for example, a benefit to the accused’s family, to a friend or to the accused’s business. (See, e.g., People v Severino, 91 Misc 2d 898, affd 63 AD2d 1010, where Penal Law § 10.00 (17) is viewed as including a benefit to a defendant’s business.) Penal Law § 10.00 (17), by using the words "and includes” rather than the word "or” limits "benefit” to a gain or advantage to the beneficiary.

There is nothing in the case law that contradicts this construction of Penal Law § 195.00. In 1969, an upstate trial court recited the history of the statute and its predecessor provisions and held that the crime of official misconduct requires "[a] culpable motive * * * which must be directly connected with the duty which the public servant [violated] * * * and such motive must be of a venal nature.” (People v Thompson, 58 Misc 2d 511, 513.) The culpable mental state for the crime of official misconduct is defined by Donnino, Practice Commentary (McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 39, Penal Law § 195.00, at 431) as "a specific intent to obtain a benefit or to injure another person or deprive another person of a benefit.” A few courts have fleshed out the statutory definition of "benefit” in the context of bribery and bribe receiving under Penal Law article 200. (See, e.g., People v Hyde, 156 App Div 618; People v Cavan, 84 Misc 2d 510; People v Adams, 86 Misc 2d 634.) In all cases, the "benefit” was required to be more than merely tangential and had a nexus personal to the defendant.

Counts 10, 33 and 39 of the indictment charge defendant [922]*922with committing the crime of official misconduct "with intent to obtain a benefit for the Metro-North Commuter Railroad”, defendant’s employer. Defendant’s alleged intent to benefit the railroad does not spell out a benefit to himself, even remotely. Nor was there evidence before the Grand Jury of a benefit to defendant. Accordingly, the evidence presented to the Grand Jury was insufficient to support the official misconduct charges and the factual allegations of those three counts fail to state the crimes charged. The official misconduct charges are hereby dismissed.

CHARGES OF COMPUTER TRESPASS AND UNAUTHORIZED USE OF A COMPUTER

Defendant challenges the factual sufficiency of each count of the indictment including the counts charging computer trespass and unauthorized use of a computer.

CPL 200.50 (7) requires that each count of an indictment contain-

"A plain and concise factual statement * * * which * * * "(a) asserts facts supporting every element of the offense charged and the defendant’s * * * commission thereof with sufficient precision to clearly apprise the defendant * * * of the conduct which is the subject of the accusation”.

CPL 200.70 (2) (b) bars amendment of an indictment for the purpose of curing legal insufficiency of the factual allegations.

Counts 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27, 29, 31, 34, 37, 40 and 43 charge defendant with computer trespass in identical language, on different dates, as follows:

"the GRAND JURY OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SPECIAL AND TRIAL TERM OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, county of new york, by this indictment, accuses the defendant of the crime of computer trespass, in violation of section 156.10 (2) of the Penal Law, committed as follows:

"The defendant, on or about [date] in the County of New York, knowingly caused to be used a computer service, to wit: the New York State Police Information Network, without authorization, to wit: in excess of the permission of the New York State Police Department, which, as the defendant had been notified, limited such access to purposes connected with the administration of criminal justice.”

Penal Law § 156.10 provides:

"§ 156.10 Computer trespass

"A person is guilty of computer trespass when he knowingly [923]*923uses or causes to be used a computer or computer service without authorization and * * *

"2. he thereby knowingly gains access to computer material.”

Comparison of the statute with the indictment shows that the statutory requirement, "he thereby knowingly gains access to computer material”, is not supported by factual allegations in any of the computer trespass counts.

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People v. Esposito, 144 Misc. 2d 919, 545 N.Y.S.2d 468, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 499 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1989).

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