People v. Grant

14 Misc. 2d 182, 179 N.Y.S.2d 384, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2393
CourtNew York Court of General Session of the Peace
DecidedNovember 7, 1958
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 14 Misc. 2d 182 (People v. Grant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of General Session of the Peace primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Grant, 14 Misc. 2d 182, 179 N.Y.S.2d 384, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2393 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1958).

Opinion

Thomas Dickers, J.

With the object of setting the groundwork for an eventual move to dismiss the indictment, defendant [183]*183brings this motion for permission to inspect the Grand Jury minutes of this prosecution.

He contends that ‘ ‘ wiretapping was extensively resorted to and used ’ ’ in order to obtain the indictment, which charges the crimes of conspiracy (one count) and bribing a participant in a professional sport (ten counts).

He maintains that all evidence derived from wire tapping, falls under the ban of the Federal Communications Act of June 19, 1934 (48 U. S. Stat. 1103; U. S. Code, tit. 47, § 605), and of section 2 of article VI, the supremacy clause, of the United States Constitution.

That such evidence was presented to the Grand Jury, is readily conceded by the District Attorney.

The concession narrows the issue to this precise question: May this type of evidence when obtained by local law-enforcement officers pursuant to authorized State law, be used in a State prosecution, despite section 605 of title 47 of the United States Code, prohibiting the interception of telephonic communications ?

In support of the motion, defendant confidently relies on the recent case of Benanti v. United States (355 U. S. 96) as the final binding authority for the judicial declaration that section 605 of the Federal Communications Act has had the decisive effect of vitiating section 12 of article I of the Constitution of the State of New York and its derivative statute, section 813-a of the New York Code of Criminal Procedure, which permits official wire tapping in this State; consequently, any information secured in violation of section 605, must be regarded as a nullity for evidentiary use.

This is the sole and only legal contention now urged by defendant.

In opposition to the motion, the District Attorney contends that the Benanti case (supra) “ dealt solely with the admissibility of wire tap evidence at a federal trial.” He points out that the case of Schwartz v. Texas (344 U. S. 199) reviewed and reaffirmed thereafter in the Benanti case (supra) had upheld the use of such evidence in proceedings of a State court, in consonance with a similar rule enunciated by the Court of Appeals of this State.

This is the sole and only contention offered in opposition by the District Attorney.

An extensive research and a careful analysis of various judicial authorities indicate that the substantive aspect of section 605 forms no barrier to the admission of such evidence, for the following reasons:

[184]*1841. The abstention by the United States Supreme Court from a complete determination of the question.

2. The adjudication by the New York Court of Appeals in holding that section 605 places no restriction or qualification on the use of wire-tapping evidence in the courts of this State.

3. The further ruling by the Court of Appeals that Congress, in any event, has no right to exercise any power to legislate a rule of evidence for State courts.

The first two of the afore-stated reasons will be hereafter considered in combined form.

In Schwartz v. Texas (supra) the immediate predecessor of the Benanti case (supra) the court provides the keynote of this controversy in this language (344 U. S. 201): “ the question we have is whether these communications arc barred by the federal statute, § 605, from use as evidence in a criminal proceeding in a state court. We think not.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Then, observing that the construction of section 605 was held to apply to Federal courts, and this even though the communications were intrastate telephone calls, citing therefor Nardone v. United States (302 U. S. 379) and Weiss v. United States (308 U. S. 321, 329), the court in the Schwartz case (supra) continues in this vein (344 U. S. 201): “Although the intercepted calls would be inadmissible in a federal court, it does not follow that such evidence is inadmissible in a state court.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Then again (344 U. S. 202): “ This question has been many time before the state courts, and they have uniformly held that § 605 does not apply to exclude such communications from evidence in state courts. Leon v. State, 180 Md. 279 * * *; People v. Stemmer, 298 N. Y. 728 * * *; Harlem Check Cashing Corp. v. Bell, 296 N. Y. 15 * * *; People v. Channell, 107 Cal. App. 2d 192, * * *. While these cases are not controlling here, they are entitled to consideration because of the high standing of the courts from which they come.” (Emphasis supplied.)

(See in addition to the New York cases cited in the Schwartz case, supra, on this point, also the New York cases of People v. Saperstein, 2 N Y 2d 210, cert, denied 353 U. S. 946; People v. Katz, 201 Misc. 414; Matter of Davis, 252 App. Div. 591 and Black v. Impelliteri, 201 Misc. 371, affd. 281 App. Div. 671 — all dealing favorably with the admission of such evidence in the courts of this State. See, also, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Voci, 393 Pa. 404.)

The court in the subsequent Benanti case (supra) elected not to disturb its prior determination in the Schwarts case (supra) [185]*185expressing itself thereof in the following manner (355 U. S. 101-102): “In the instant case we are not dealing with a state rule of evidence.”

Another extract from the Schwartz case (supra) the substance of which will be scrutinized more closely under its pertinent reason “3,” is also worthy of note here (344 U. S. 203): “ Since we do not believe that Congress intended to impose a rule of evidence on the state courts, we do not decide whether it has the power to do so.”

And the Benanti case (supra, p. 101) followed with this clarifying explanation: ‘ ‘ The rationale of that case is that despite the plain prohibition of Section 605, due regard to federal-state relations precluded the conclusion that Congress intended to thwart a state rule of evidence in the absence of a clear indication to that effect.”

The defendant strongly urges as extra support for his cause that, and I quote (defendant’s reply memo, p. 14): “ the State of New York cannot and should not, by the process of disobedience, nullify an Act of Congress.” This apparently is another way of saying, as Judge Hoestadteb had advanced in a broader sense in Matter of Interception of Telephone Communications, 9 Misc 2d 121, 125), that “ when Congress enacts legislation within its competence, and it becomes the ‘ supreme Law of the Land ’ under the Constitution, State interests must yield to the paramount national concern.”

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Related

People v. Virga
47 Misc. 2d 572 (New York Supreme Court, 1965)
People v. Issachar
24 Misc. 2d 826 (New York Court of General Session of the Peace, 1960)

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14 Misc. 2d 182, 179 N.Y.S.2d 384, 1958 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-grant-nygensess-1958.