People v. Morbelli

144 Misc. 2d 482, 544 N.Y.S.2d 442, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 405
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedJune 29, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 144 Misc. 2d 482 (People v. Morbelli) 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. Morbelli, 144 Misc. 2d 482, 544 N.Y.S.2d 442, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 405 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Michael A Gross, J.

Defendant, charged in an information with endangering the welfare of a child (Penal Law § 260.10 [1]), a class A misdemeanor, and sexual abuse in the third degree (Penal Law § 130.55), a class B misdemeanor, has moved for dismissal of the accusatory instrument on the grounds that (a) the statutes defining the offenses are unconstitutionally vague under the Due Process Clauses of the Federal and State Constitutions or, alternatively, unconstitutional as applied to him and that (b) his statutory speedy trial rights pursuant to CPL 30.30 have been violated. Defendant’s motion is denied for the following reasons.

[484]*484DEFENDANT’S CHALLENGE TO THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE STATUTES

Penal Law § 260.10 (1) provides:

"A person is guilty of endangering the welfare of a child when:

"(1) He knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a male child less than sixteen years old or a female child less than seventeen years old or directs or authorizes such child to engage in an occupation involving a substantial risk of danger to his life or health”.

Penal Law § 130.55 provides in pertinent part: "A person is guilty of sexual abuse in the third degree when he subjects another person to sexual contact without the latter’s consent”.

"Sexual contact” is defined in Penal Law § 130.00 (3) as meaning: "any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person not married to the actor for the purpose of gratifying sexual desire of either party. It includes the touching of the actor by the victim, as well as the touching of the victim by the actor, whether directly or through clothing.”

The factual portion of the accusatory instrument charging defendant with violating these sections states:

"Deponent is informed by sixteen year old, Odessa Presley, of an address known to the District Attorney’s Office, that the defendant did reach his * * * arm up the informant’s dress three (3) times and fondled the informant’s leg and upper thigh.

"Deponent is further informed by Odessa Presley, that the defendant did not have permission or authority to reach up her dress and feel her leg or thigh.”

Legislative enactments are presumed constitutional and the burden of demonstrating a statute is unconstitutional rests with the party seeking to invalidate it. (People v Bright, 71 NY2d 376, 382 [1988]; People v Pagnotta, 25 NY2d 333, 337 [1969].) Unconstitutionality must be shown beyond a reasonable doubt. (Defiance Milk Prods. Co. v Du Mond, 309 NY 537, 540-541 [1956].)

A law is void if it "fails to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden by the statute” (United States v Harriss, 347 US 612, 617 [1954]) or if the failure to provide explicit standards for application encourages "arbitrary and discriminatory enforce[485]*485ment” (Grayned v City of Rockford, 408 US 104, 108 [1972]; see also, Kolender v Lawson, 461 US 352, 357 [1983]; Papachristou v City of Jacksonville, 405 US 156, 162 [1972]; People v Bright, 71 NY2d 376 [1988], supra; People v Nelson, 69 NY2d 302 [1987]).

Defendant’s challenge to Penal Law § 260.10 (1) is based on the recent case of People v Villacis (143 Misc 2d 568 [Sup Ct, Kings County 1989]). This decision held that Penal Law § 260.10 (1) was (1) unconstitutional as written since the language used to delineate prohibited conduct was vague and also (2) unconstitutional as applied since the 19-year-old defendant was not shown to have any "control” over the 16-year-old complainant which would enable her to "take advantage” of the complainant.

For the reasons set forth below this court rejects both claims that Penal Law § 260.10 (1) is unconstitutional. First, with respect to the argument that the statute is so vague and indefinite as to violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the court deems itself bound by the decision of the Court of Appeals in People v Bergerson (17 NY2d 398 [1966]), which upheld the predecessor statute to Penal Law § 260.10 (former Penal Law § 483) and rejected this very void-for-vagueness argument. The court wrote that the law "clearly informed defendant that the offense prohibited was the endangering of the life, limb, health or morals of a child and what was required of him was that he refrain from willfully causing or permitting such danger.” (17 NY2d, supra, at 403-404.) While Penal Law § 260.10 (1) did not incorporate the exact wording of former Penal Law § 483 the language is substantially similar. The statute provides adequate notice of all persons subject to its mandate of both the nature of the conduct prohibited and what is required of them to refrain from violating its proscription. (See, People v Byron, 17 NY2d 64, 67 [1966].)

The court in Villacis (supra) made no attempt to parse the language of Penal Law § 260.10 (1) or to analyze the intent of the Legislature when it failed to incorporate the exact words of former Penal Law § 483 into the present endangering statute. In fact Villacis glosses over the holding of Bergerson (supra) that the predecessor statute passed constitutional muster but relies on Bergerson for the second prong of its decision that the statute may be applied only against a defendant who has some degree of "control” over the child victim. (Supra, at 570.) Villacis correctly points out that the Court of Appeals in [486]*486Bergerson construed the word "permits” in the phrase "willfully causes or permits the life * * * of any child * * * to be endangered, or its health to be injured, or its morals do become depraved” the conduct prohibited under former Penal Law § 483, to require a showing that the defendant must have some degree of control over the minor child as a predicate to the imposition of criminal liability. The defendant in Villacis was a 19-year-old student charged with, among other offenses, endangering the welfare of a child based on an incident involving "contact” and resulting "injury” to the face of a 16-year-old schoolmate; the court found the statute could not be applied to this defendant because the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case that the defendant exercise any "control” over the 16-year-old child that might enable her to "take advantage” of the victim. (Supra, at 571.) Villacis is entirely silent as to the nature of the "contact,” the circumstances under which the "injury” was inflicted and the degree of control which the court would have accepted to sustain the prosecution of the defendant. By contrast, Bergerson speaks loudly and clearly on the quantum of control needed to support a prosecution. There, the 28-year-old defendant consented to help two 16 year olds to organize a beer party; he purchased a half keg of beer from money raised by the youths attending, he transported some of the boys to a picnic area and, later, when it began to rain, moved the party to his house; one of the boys who attended the party was killed on a highway, one mile away from defendant’s home, presumably having been struck by an automobile.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Garcia Pinach v. Bondi
Second Circuit, 2025
Rodriguez v. Barr
975 F.3d 188 (Second Circuit, 2020)
Castle v. Castle
567 S.W.3d 908 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2019)
United States v. Romeo
385 F. App'x 45 (Second Circuit, 2010)
James v. Mukasey
522 F.3d 250 (Second Circuit, 2008)
People v. Padmore
221 A.D.2d 663 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1995)
Bills v. Commonwealth
851 S.W.2d 466 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1993)
People v. Alexander
149 Misc. 2d 361 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 Misc. 2d 482, 544 N.Y.S.2d 442, 1989 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-morbelli-nycrimct-1989.