People v. Pesola

37 Misc. 3d 569
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedAugust 2, 2012
StatusPublished

This text of 37 Misc. 3d 569 (People v. Pesola) 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. Pesola, 37 Misc. 3d 569 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Lynn R. Kotler, J.

On March 17, 2012, the defendant was arrested in connection with police response to protest activities regarding Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Defense counsel explains in his affirmation that

[571]*571“OWS has changed the national conversation about the economy and the state of our political system. As mainstream media voices have acknowledged, [OWS] ‘embodies a national frustration with broken democratic institutions.’ [OWS] has ‘lofted the issue of inequality onto our national agenda’ and the voices of [OWS] resonate ‘around the globe’ ” (citations omitted).

The defendant is charged with resisting arrest (Penal Law § 205.30) and two counts of disorderly conduct (Penal Law § 240.20 [5], [6]). He now moves to dismiss the information on the following grounds: (1) in the interest of justice pursuant to CPL 170.30 (1) (g) and 170.40 (see People v Clayton, 41 AD2d 204 [2d Dept 1973]); and (2) because it is facially insufficient.

The defendant also moves for an order: (1) suppressing physical and/or testimonial evidence or, alternatively, granting a Mapp/Dunaway hearing; (2) suppressing noticed statements allegedly made by the defendant or, alternatively, granting a Huntley hearing; (3) precluding the prosecution from introducing evidence of any statement or identification at trial for which proper notice has not been given; (4) precluding the prosecution from introducing evidence of the defendant’s prior criminal history or prior uncharged criminal, vicious, or immoral conduct; and (5) directing the People to file a bill of particulars and permit discovery. The People oppose the motion to dismiss and are silent on the balance of the defendant’s motion.

The following facts are alleged in the accusatory instrument. On March 17, 2012 at about 14:25 hours, opposite of 1 Liberty Plaza, New York, New York, Lieutenant Frank Viviano observed the defendant obstructing pedestrian traffic. Lieutenant Viviano specifically observed the defendant “standing on a public sidewalk, congregating with others and jumping up and down thereby causing people to walk around the defendant and into the street to pass by.” Lieutenant Viviano states that he observed Deputy Inspector Edward Winski give an order to disperse and that the defendant remained in the same area and refused to move on.

Lieutenant Viviano further states that when he was placing the defendant under arrest, the defendant pulled his arm away from Lieutenant Viviano and “refused to place [his] arms behind [his] back, thereby making it difficult for [Lieutenant Viviano] to handcuff defendant.”

Facial Sufficiency

[572]*572To be sufficient on its face, a misdemeanor information must contain factual allegations of an evidentiary character demonstrating reasonable cause to believe the defendant committed the offenses charged (CPL 100.15 [3]; 100.40 [1] [b]; 70.10). These facts must be supported by nonhearsay allegations which, if true, establish every element of the offenses (CPL 100.40 [1] [c]). An information which fails to satisfy these requirements is jurisdictionally defective (CPL 170.30, 170.35; People v Alejandro, 70 NY2d 133 [1987]; People v Dumas, 68 NY2d 729 [1986]).

In reviewing an accusatory instrument for facial sufficiency, “[s]o long as the factual allegations of an information give an accused notice sufficient to prepare a defense and are adequately detailed to prevent a defendant from being tried twice for the same offense,” the court should give it “a fair and not overly restrictive or technical reading” (People v Casey, 95 NY2d 354, 360 [2000]). Moreover, the Court of Appeals has held that at the pleading stage, all that is needed is that the factual allegations are sufficiently evidentiary in character and tend to support the charges (People v Allen, 92 NY2d 378, 385 [1998]).

Disorderly Conduct — Blocking Vehicular or Pedestrian Traffic

Under Penal Law § 240.20 (5), ‘‘[a] person is guilty of disorderly conduct when, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof . . . [h]e obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic.”

The defendant argues that the allegations fail to establish that the defendant “caused or recklessly created the risk of any criminally significant obstruction of traffic or other serious public ramification.” The defendant maintains that the alleged conduct must “threaten serious public ramifications beyond slowing and/or otherwise discommoding some pedestrian or vehicular traffic.” This is a correct statement of the law. In People v Jones (9 NY3d 259 [2007]), the Court of Appeals reversed the Supreme Court, Appellate Term, First Department (13 Misc 3d 94 [2006]), holding that a similar information was facially insufficient. In Jones, the defendant was observed by the arresting officer “with a number of other individuals standing around at the above location, to wit a public sidewalk, not moving, and that as a result of defendants’ [sic] behavior, numerous pedestrians in the area had to walk around defendants [sic]” (9 NY3d at 261). The arresting officer allegedly directed the defendant “to move and defendant refused and as [the officer] attempted to stop defendant, defendant did run” (id.). The Jones Court found that these allegations were insufficient because:

[573]*573“Nothing in the information indicates how defendant, when he stood in the middle of a sidewalk at 2:01 a.m., had the intent to or recklessly created a risk of causing ‘public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm.’ The conduct sought to be deterred under the statute is ‘considerably more serious than the apparently innocent’ conduct of defendant here. Something more than a mere inconvenience of pedestrians is required to support the charge. Otherwise, any person who happens to stop on a sidewalk — whether to greet another, to seek directions or simply to regain one’s bearings — would be subject to prosecution under this statute” (Jones at 262-263 [citations omitted]).

Here, the allegations that Lieutenant Viviano observed the defendant with a group of other individuals, jumping up and down on a public sidewalk at 2:25 p.m., thereby causing pedestrians to walk around the defendant and into the street to pass by, are not enough at this stage to meet the People’s pleading burden. The mere fact that the defendant was “jumping up and down” or that this conduct occurred in the afternoon, without more facts, does not establish that the defendant caused “public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm” or demonstrate the requisite mens rea to violate Penal Law § 240.20 (5).

The People argue that this case is analogous to People v James (7 Misc 3d 363 [Crim Ct, NY County 2005]). However, the very specific factual allegations in that case are readily distinguishable from the allegations here. In that case, the defendant was observed by the arresting officers with a group of over 100 other individuals walking on the street and sidewalk from 17th Street towards Fifth Avenue and the defendant stopped behind a police barricade and caused public inconvenience by obstructing pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

The Honorable Ellen Gesmer wrote in People v Barrett

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Cox v. Louisiana
379 U.S. 536 (Supreme Court, 1965)
People v. Casey
740 N.E.2d 233 (New York Court of Appeals, 2000)
People v. Jones
878 N.E.2d 1016 (New York Court of Appeals, 2007)
People v. Allen
703 N.E.2d 1229 (New York Court of Appeals, 1998)
MATTER OF BEACH v. Shanley
465 N.E.2d 304 (New York Court of Appeals, 1984)
People v. Nixon
161 N.E. 463 (New York Court of Appeals, 1928)
People v. Galpern
181 N.E. 572 (New York Court of Appeals, 1932)
People v. Maher
142 Misc. 2d 977 (New York Supreme Court, 1989)
People v. Todaro
258 N.E.2d 711 (New York Court of Appeals, 1970)
People v. Dumas
497 N.E.2d 686 (New York Court of Appeals, 1986)
People v. Alejandro
511 N.E.2d 71 (New York Court of Appeals, 1987)
People v. M.R.
43 A.D.3d 1188 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)
People v. Clayton
41 A.D.2d 204 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1973)
People v. Lagnese
236 A.D.2d 629 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)
People v. Rahmen
302 A.D.2d 408 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2003)
People v. Jones
13 Misc. 3d 94 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 2006)
People v. Pearl
66 Misc. 2d 502 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1971)
People v. Prunty
101 Misc. 2d 163 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 1979)
People v. Maher
137 Misc. 2d 162 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
37 Misc. 3d 569, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-pesola-nycrimct-2012.