People v. Micelli

156 A.D. 756, 30 N.Y. Crim. 1, 142 N.Y.S. 102, 1913 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6524
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 29, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 156 A.D. 756 (People v. Micelli) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State 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. Micelli, 156 A.D. 756, 30 N.Y. Crim. 1, 142 N.Y.S. 102, 1913 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6524 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

Clarke, J.:

Appellant was convicted of the crime of kidnapping. The indictment, drawn under section 1250 of the Penal Law, is in two counts, for leading, taking, enticing away and detaining a child of the age of three years with intent to keep and conceal him from his parents; and, second, with intent to extort or obtain money and reward for the return of said child.

The little boy was the son of an Italian physician, Dr. Scimeca, who resided at No. 2 Prince street. The child was taken on the. street on the 21st of June, 1910. The defendant was_ sufficiently identified as the person who took the child by, two school girls who were eye witnesses and by the statements made by the defendant to the police officers who arrested him. They testified that on the street he offered five dollars to be let go; that when he asked “ What are you arresting me for ? ” he was told “We are arresting you for kidnapping Dr. Scimeca’s child last June, a year ago. He looked and his eyes filled up; he said, ‘ All I know about Dr. Scimeca’s child is I seen him on Elizabeth street; he was crying,’ and he said, ‘ I thought he was lost and I took him by the hand and I walked him up to Bleecker Street. When I got to Bleecker Street a man came along and said to me, ‘ Where are you going witifo the boy ? ’ I said, ‘ I thought he was lost,’ and the man said, ‘ G-ive him to me,’ and the man took the child from me. [The policeman continued:] Isays, ‘ How do you know it was Dr. Scimeca’s child % ’ He said, ‘Well, I heard afterwards that it was Dr. Scimeca’s boy.’ Now he says, ‘That is all I know about it. * * * Here is $100, take it; it won’t do you no good to send me to prison.’ ” And the next morning he said: “ ‘ Take this $100 and this jewelry and go to court and have me [758]*758discharged.’ He says, ‘You might as well have it as the lawyers,’ * * * land he says, ‘ I have got some other property in Italy; if you let me go I am willing to be a pauper, if you let me go.’ ”

About nine o’clock on the evening of September 8, 1910, Dr. Scimeca, in response to a telephone message received the day before, and according to its instructions, went over to Brooklyn to the park between Flushing and Park avenues near Navy street, with $1,700 in an envelope which he- gave to a man who said: “Good evening, Doctor Scimeca.” The next-night after the payment of the money the child was returned. Its grandmother on a telephonic message had gone in a carriage to East Fifty-fifth street between First and Second avenues, borough of Manhattan, arriving there about midnight. She found the child oh the sidewalk alone.

■ There was sufficient evidence to support the verdict of the jury so far as concerns the taking of the child by the defendant. .

There were received in evidence a number of threatening and abusive letters received by Dr. Scimeca which began the day , after- the taking of the child and continued down to the time of its return. They said the writers had the child in their possession; that he was sick and might die. They threatened his death if instructions were not followed and money paid as directed and promised to return him on performance thereof. There .was also received evidence of telephonic messages to Dr. Scimeca containing threats and instructions. Said messages referred to the letters and the letters also referred to the telephonic messages. ¡It is. not claimed that these letters were written by the defendant or that the telephone messages emanated from him. No attempt was made to trace either set of communications to him personally. The receipt in evidence of these oral and written communications is the ground. upon which this court is asked to reverse this judgment.

The crime for Which .the defendant was indicted, namely, kidnapping, Was a continuing crime. ■ It was for leading, taking and enticing aWay and detaining a child under the age of sixteen years with intent to extort or obtain money and reward for his return. The perpetration of the crime began by the taking of the child on the twenty-first of June by the defend[759]*759ant in person, was continued by his detention until the ninth of September and was ended by his return on said date, the purpose for which the crime had been committed having been accomplished by the payment of $1,700 by his father on the previous night.

It is obvious that the successful accomplishment of such a crime necessitated the confederation or conspiracy of several persons. The defendant was clearly responsible for the acts of his coconspirators committed during the continuance of the crime, that is, the period of detention of the child in the furtherance of the common purpose and with the common design to extort moneys by said detention. The letters and communications, which began immediately upon the taking of the child, continued throughout its detention and ceased upon its return were acts done in furtherance of the common design for which he was responsible and were, therefore, admissible in evidence against him.

It is true that he was not indicted for .conspiracy. In People v. McKane (143 N. Y. 455) it was said: bio conspiracy was charged in the indictment, nor was it necessary, since the conspiracy, if shown, was evidence in support of the charge stated from which the jury might find the main fact in issue. * “ * When a conspiracy is shown, or evidence on the'subject given sufficient for the jury, then the acts and declarations of the conspirators, in furtherance of its purpose and object, are competent, and in a case like this it is not necessary, in order to make such proof competent, that the conspiracy should be charged in the indictment;” To the same effect, People v. Putnam (90 App. Div. 125; affd. on opinion below, 179 N. Y. 518).

In People v. Adrogna (139 App. Div. 595) defendant was • convicted on an indictment for extortion. The court said: There is no direct evidence that the defendant wrote the letters or any. of them, and for this reason it is urged that the defendant could not be convicted under the indictment charging extortion by means of threats that the defendant would kill Scarito. But he could be convicted under the indictment not only if he wrote the letters himself, but also if he acted in conjunction with those who did write them.”

[760]*760In People v. Campisi (145 App. Div. 266) it is said: The facts “ disclose the situation which has now become familiar of the kidnapping of the child, the sending of threatening letters to the parents demanding money or as an alternative the death of the child, the appearance of a person, following1 the receipt of the letters, who claims to know the child’s whereabouts and, if the money is paid over, the return of the child. * * "x" Defendant * * * claims never to have, seen the letters in question. - * Upon the testimony they might properly have found either that the threatening letters had been sent under the direction of defendant, if he did not write them; or that' he was acting in conjunction with those who did write them. In either event he would have been guilty of extortion.”

In People v. Hall (51 App. Div. 57) Spring, J., said: “It is contended on behalf of the defendant that it was error to receive evidence of the transactions or statements of the original codefendants occurring after June twenty-first. The evidence justifies the conclusion that these men were engaged jointly with a concerted purpose to filch money from the complainant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 A.D. 756, 30 N.Y. Crim. 1, 142 N.Y.S. 102, 1913 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-micelli-nyappdiv-1913.