People v. Rodriguez

49 Misc. 3d 867, 14 N.Y.S.3d 676
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedAugust 5, 2015
StatusPublished

This text of 49 Misc. 3d 867 (People v. Rodriguez) 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. Rodriguez, 49 Misc. 3d 867, 14 N.Y.S.3d 676 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Mary V. Rosado, J.

Defendant is charged with aggravated harassment in the second degree (Penal Law § 240.30 [1] [b]). By affirmation and memorandum of law dated March 17, 2015, defendant moved for the dismissal of the charge on the ground that the accusatory instrument is facially insufficient and for other relief. By affirmation in opposition dated April 15, 2015, the People opposed dismissal, arguing that the accusatory instrument is facially sufficient. In rendering a decision, this court reviewed defendant’s affirmation and memorandum of law dated March 17, 2015, the People’s affirmation in opposition dated April 15, 2015, the court file, and relevant statutes and case law.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss the charge of aggravated harassment in the second degree is denied.

Factual Allegations

The information alleges, in pertinent part, that on or about February 4, 2015, at approximately 2:38 p.m., at 40 Richman Plaza apartment number 23 D, the following occurred:

[869]*869“Deponent states that, at the above time and place, deponent’s residence, she received a telephone call from defendant stating in sum and substance: I SEE YOU ARE NOT WEARING THE BLACK BOOTS THAT YOU WERE WEARING EARLY THIS MORNING WHEN YOU DROPPED OFF JALISSA. I AM GOING TO BEAT THE FUCK OUT OF YOU.
“Deponent further states that she has known defendant for approximately eleven (11) years, has spoken to defendant in person and over the phone several times, and recognized the voice on the phone to be that of the defendant.
“Deponent further states that as a result of defendant’s aforementioned conduct, she feared for her physical safety.”

Facial Sufficiency

To be facially sufficient, an accusatory instrument “must designate the offense or offenses charged” (CPL 100.15 [2]) and “must contain a statement of the complainant alleging facts of an evidentiary character supporting or tending to support the charges” (CPL 100.15 [3]). More specifically, an information must provide “reasonable cause to believe that the defendant committed the offense charged in the accusatory part of the information” (CPL 100.40 [1] [b]) and must contain “nonhearsay allegations [that], if true, establish every element of the offense charged and the defendant’s commission thereof” (People v Henderson, 92 NY2d 677, 679 [1999]; see CPL 100.40 [1] [c]).

The Court of Appeals has stated that CPL 100.40 (1) places “the burden on the People to make out their prima facie case for the offense charged in the text of the information” (People v Jones, 9 NY3d 259, 261 [2007])- It should be noted that the prima facie case requirement is not the same as the burden required at trial of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, “nor does it rise to the level of legally sufficient evidence that is necessary to survive a motion to dismiss based on the proof presented at trial” (People v Kalin, 12 NY3d 225, 230 [2009]). Rather, what is required is that the factual allegations in the 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” {id. at 230 [citations and quotation marks omitted]). Ultimately, the information “should be given a fair and not overly restrictive or technical reading” (People v Casey, 95 NY2d 354, 360 [2000]).

[870]*870Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree

Penal Law § 240.30 (1) (b) provides that

“[w]ith intent to harass another person, the actor . . .
“causes a communication to be initiated anonymously or otherwise, by telephone ... a threat to cause physical harm to, or unlawful harm to the property of, such person, a member of such person’s same family or household as defined in subdivision one of section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law, and the actor knows or reasonably should know that such communication will cause such person to reasonably fear harm to such person’s physical safety or property, or to the physical safety or property of a member of such person’s same family or household.”

Therefore, the elements of the offense are (1) intent to harass another, (2) causation of a communication, (3) of a threat to cause physical harm, and (4) knowing or having reason to know that the recipient of the communication will reasonably fear harm of physical safety.

Since Penal Law § 240.30 (1) (b) criminalizes certain types of speech alone, a defendant’s communication may invoke free speech protection. “[U]nless speech presents a clear and present danger of some serious substantive evil, it may neither be forbidden nor penalized” (People v Dietze, 75 NY2d 47, 51 [1989], citing Terminiello v Chicago, 337 US 1, 4-5 [1949]). Only particular kinds of communication may be prohibited, such as “fighting words, true threats, incitement, obscenity, child pornography, fraud, defamation or statements integral to criminal conduct” (People v Marquan M., 24 NY3d 1, 7 [2014]). True threats are those that “by their utterance alone, inflict injury or tend naturally to evoke immediate violence” (People v Golb, 23 NY3d 455, 467 [2014], quoting Dietze at 52). In order for a communication to qualify as a true threat, “an ordinary, reasonable recipient familiar with the context of the communication would interpret it as a true threat of injury” (People v Olivio, 6 Misc 3d 1034[A], 2005 NY Slip Op 50300[U], *2 [Crim Ct, NY County 2005] [citations omitted]). Furthermore, a true threat is one that is “clear, unambiguous, and immediate” (People v Orr, 47 Misc 3d 1213[A], 2015 NY Slip Op 50568 [U], *3 [Crim Ct, NY County 2015]; People v Brodeur, 40 Misc 3d 1070, 1073 [Crim Ct, Kings County 2013]; People v Yablov, 183 Misc 2d 880, 886 [Crim Ct, NY County 2000]).

[871]*871In the instant matter the information sufficiently alleges that defendant communicated a true threat of physical harm. Defendant’s statement “I’m going to beat the fuck out of you” (complaint at 1), possesses all the characteristics of a true threat. It is a statement that tends naturally to evoke immediate violence because it is a promise to cause severe physical harm. “Beating the fuck out of someone” is a statement that a reasonable listener would consider a true threat of physical injury. To beat is defined as “[to] [s]trike (a person or an animal) repeatedly and violently so as to hurt or injure them, usually with an implement” (Oxford Online Dictionary, beat [http:// www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/ beat]). Defendant argues that without the context in which the statement was made, his communication cannot be deemed a threat to cause physical injury to the complainant. (Defendant’s affirmation at 7.) While the context of a statement is proper to consider in determining the genuineness of a threat (Olivio), it is unnecessary when the statement is clear on its face. A true threat is “serious, should reasonably have been taken to be serious, or was confirmed by other words or acts showing that it was anything more than a crude outburst” (Dietze at 53-54). Defendant’s statement also does not fail for lack of immediacy. True threats are not required to convey an exact time and place where the threatened harm is to be inflicted (see People v Delarosa,

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Related

Terminiello v. Chicago
337 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1949)
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. Henderson
708 N.E.2d 165 (New York Court of Appeals, 1999)
People v. Duggins
821 N.E.2d 942 (New York Court of Appeals, 2004)
People v. Kalin
906 N.E.2d 381 (New York Court of Appeals, 2009)
The People v. Marquan M. / County of Albany
19 N.E.3d 480 (New York Court of Appeals, 2014)
People v. Golb
15 N.E.3d 805 (New York Court of Appeals, 2014)
People v. Todaro
258 N.E.2d 711 (New York Court of Appeals, 1970)
People v. Getch
407 N.E.2d 425 (New York Court of Appeals, 1980)
People v. Dietze
549 N.E.2d 1166 (New York Court of Appeals, 1989)
People v. Yablov
183 Misc. 2d 880 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 2000)
People v. Brodeur
40 Misc. 3d 1070 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 Misc. 3d 867, 14 N.Y.S.3d 676, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rodriguez-nycrimct-2015.