People v. Hurt

78 Misc. 2d 43, 355 N.Y.S.2d 728, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1324
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedMay 7, 1974
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 78 Misc. 2d 43 (People v. Hurt) 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. Hurt, 78 Misc. 2d 43, 355 N.Y.S.2d 728, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1324 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1974).

Opinion

Maurice W. Grey, J.

This is an application by defendant for leave to reargue a prior decision of this court granting a motion, made by the People, for an order vacating and setting aside a prior adjournment in contemplation of dismissal pursuant to CPL 170.55.

Defendant was arrested on November 1,1973, charged with the violation of section 205.25 of the Penal Law, introducing contraband into a detention facility. On November 14, 1973 the case appeared on the ID Calendar and on motion of the Assistant District Attorney, the charge was reduced to section 205.20 of [44]*44the Penal Law, a misdemeanor, and an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (hereinafter referred to as ACD) pursuant to CPL 170.55 was granted on consent of all parties. On November 14, later the same day, the Assistant District Attorney appeared in this court and made application ex parte to restore the case to the calendar and to vacate the ACD. The court granted the application to the extent of restoring the matter to the calendar for November 26, 1973, to notify all parties. On the stated date all parties appeared before the court and after hearing the Assistant District Attorney’s arguments in favor and the defendant in opposition, the court granted the People’s motion and vacated the ACD. Defendant now urges, in support of his motion to reargue, the following grounds:

(1) That there was no showing of1 good cause to grant the application;

(2) That an evidentiary hearing was required before such application could be granted; and

(3) That granting such order without a hearing was a violation of defendant’s constitutional rights.

CPL 170.55, effective ¡September 1, 1971, is as follows:

11 1. Upon or after arraignment in a local criminal court upon an information, a simplified traffic information, a prosecutor’s information or a misdemeanor complaint, and before entry of a plea of guilty thereto or commencement of a trial thereof, the court may, upon motion of the people or the defendant and with the consent of the other party, or upon the court’s own motion with the consent of both the people and the defendant, order that the action be ‘ adjourned in contemplation of dismissal,’ as prescribed in subdivision two.

“2. An adjournment in contemplation of dismissal is an adjournment of the action without date ordered with a view to ultimate dismissal of the accusatory instrument in furtherance of justice. Upon issuing such an order, the court must release the defendant on his own recognizance. Upon application of the people, made at any time not more than six months after the issuance of such order, the court must restore the case to the calendar and the action must thereupon proceed. If the case is not so restored within such six months period, the accusatory instrument is, at the expiration of such period, deemed to have been dismissed by the court in furtherance of justice.”

The question before this court is whether the term “ must ” in the statutes is to be construed as mandatory or directive. Whether, on application of the People, the court has discretion [45]*45to grant or deny the motion to restore the case to the calendar and to vacate the ACD.

Research has provided no cases in point. Resort, therefore, must be had to statutory construction. In the construction of a statute the basic rule of procedure and the primary consideration of the court is to ascertain and give effect to the legislative intent (McKinney’s Cons. Laws of N. Y., Book 1, Statutes, § 92). Whether a given provision in a statute is mandatory or directive is to be determined primarily from the legislative intent gathered from the entire act and the surrounding circumstances, keeping in mind the public policy to be promoted and the results that would follow one or the other conclusions. (People ex rel. McEvoy v. Duffey, 104 Misc. 35; People v. Karr, 240 N. Y. 348.) The quest, therefore, is to ascertain the legislative intent.

The procedure under CPL 170.55 has no counterpart either in the former Code of Criminal Procedure or the New York City Criminal Court Act. Professor Richard G. Denzer, in his practice commentaries says, “ The enactment of this section was intended to codify the practices prevailing in the New York City Courts known as “ DOR ” or Discharge on Own Recognizance.”

What, then, is the DOR? The Assembly Judiciary Committee, found that “ The DOR is a judicially evolved mode of disposition of a case pursuant to which, on application of the defendant and with the consent of the People, á defendant is released from custody on supervision without the payment into Court of any fund or security and without any formal disposition of the complaint made against him.”

It further found that “ The remedy (the DOR) was developed, it is believed, as an equitable relief whereby a case might be disposed of to the satisfaction of the defendant, while at the same time, reserving to the People the power to reinstate the case, if needed, in instances in which middle ground was desirable.” Report of the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly No. 37, 1963.

Under the DOR, the authority for which was derived from section 669 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a case may be continued from term to term and defendant discharged on his own undertaking to be brought to a final disposition either by the People’s motion to restore to the calendar or defendant’s motion to dismiss. “ Requiem for the DOR ”, Bronx Bar Association Advocates March 5, 1963, Judge J. Howard Rossbach.

After reviewing the history and background of the DOR, the Judiciary Committee then recommended to the Assembly an express authorization for the DOR. The Legislature, therefore, [46]*46had before it the history and background of the DOB together with the case law prior to enactment of its successor, the present. ACD.

In the leading case on DOR, Matter of Silver v. Gassman (12 Misc 2d 58, affd. 6 A D 2d 694), the court came to grips with a DOR problem similar to that with which we are here confronted. The Supreme 'Court, in reversing a lower court order denying an application by the People to vacate DOR, held that vacating DOR and restoring the case to the calendar was a ministerial act which must be exercised by the court on application of the People. That it was the responsibility of the People to bring the defendant to trial, and the court does not have the power to determine for the People who should be prosecuted for crimes and who should be brought to trial, citing McDonald v. Goldstein (191 Misc. 863, affd. 273 App. Div. 649). The Appellate Division affirmed.

Section 170.55 provides that the court may grant an ACD on consent of both parties and that the court, therefore, must release the defendant on his own recognizance. It then further states that the court must restore the case to the calendar at any time not more than six months after issuance of the order on motion of the People.

This court holds that the legislative intent in the usage of the word “ must ” in section 170.55 is that it is mandatory and not directive. That on application of the People, the court is required to restore the case to the calendar, such act being' a purely ministerial one. The statute must be interpreted further to mean that where the motion is made by either party to grant an ACD, the court may, in its discretion, and upon consent of the other party, grant such application.

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Bluebook (online)
78 Misc. 2d 43, 355 N.Y.S.2d 728, 1974 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hurt-nycrimct-1974.