People v. Sciandra

65 Misc. 2d 923, 319 N.Y.S.2d 516, 1971 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1757
CourtBuffalo City Court
DecidedMarch 17, 1971
StatusPublished

This text of 65 Misc. 2d 923 (People v. Sciandra) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Buffalo City Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Sciandra, 65 Misc. 2d 923, 319 N.Y.S.2d 516, 1971 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1757 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1971).

Opinion

Alois 0. Mazur, J.

Defendant moved to preclude the People from using as evidence any information resulting from overheard telephone conversations involving the defendant and one John Moran, during the period of February 7,1969 through February 25, 1969. The said telephone conversations were intercepted by the police pursuant to an order of a County Court Judge on February 4, 1969.

Defendant maintains that there was no probable cause for the issuance of said order; that any conversations involving the defendant and one John Moran are to be precluded because the defendant was not named in said order-; and that said order was not subsequently extended or amended to cover the conversations of the defendant; and, finally, that the law relative to eavesdropping was not otherwise complied with.

The defendant herein was not specifically named in the warrant and it is conceded that no amendment of the original warrant included the name or the .substance of the telephone conversations involved. (As defendant maintains is required by section 822 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in effect at the time.)

Section 822 of the Code of Criminal Procedure did require an amendment of the original warrant to include such con[924]*924versations only if the overhearing of which was not otherwise sought pursuant to such warrant ” (cf. Code Crina. Pro., § 822, subd. 1; L. 1968, ch. 546).

While it is clear and apparent that the original application sought to allow the overhearing of conversations relative to the acceptance of “ layoffs ” and the placement of “ layoff bets ” by one John Moran, it is not very clear from the allegations in the petition that there was sufficient probable cause to support the belief that criminal activity of this type was involved. The court does not believe that the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, section 12 of article I of the New York State Constitution, and the requirements of section 822 of the Code of Criminal Procedure can be abrogated or circumvented by mere allegations as to the scope of the criminal activity involved. To rule otherwise, could very well allow for the issuance of broad and comprehensive warrants wherever probable cause was shown that something generally unwholesome or nefarious was happening but where no probable cause was shown for a “ particularly described crime (words quoted from Code Grim. Pro., § 817, subd. 2, par. [a]; L. 1968, ch. 546). To rule otherwise would require no showing of probable cause for the interception of particular conversations. To rule otherwise would mean that once probable cause was shown for some type of criminal activity, a mere request to cover all suspected activity would suffice.

In short, the court does not believe that it was the intent of the legislators to dispense with the requirements of section 822 of the Code of Criminal Procedure whenever, and merely if, the conversations were of a type that were sought pursuant to a warrant. Implicit in section 822 and the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and similar provisions of the New York State Constitution, is the requirement that there be sufficient probable cause to ‘ ‘ eavesdrop upon ’ ’ the conversations so sought.

The purpose of the eavesdropping law was ‘ ‘ to provide a comprehensive scheme for the restricted issuance of eavesdropping warrants, based upon strict standards of probable cause and necessity, and demanding scrupulous particularity in the description both of the person and place upon which the eavesdropping is to be conducted and the nature of the evidence sought thereby. The new statutory scheme is designed to comply with the constitutional standards enunciated * # # by the United States Supreme Court in Berger v. New York (388 U. S. 41) and Katz v. United States (389 U. S. 347) ” (quoted [925]*925from Legislative Memoranda, McKinney’s 1968 Session Laws of New York, p. 2293).

In furtherance of this purpose the Legislature required in section 817 (subd. 2, pars, [a], [b]) of the Code of Criminal Procedure that applications for eavesdroping warrants 11 must contain * * * a statement of facts establishing reasonable cause to believe that a particularly described crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed; and * * * that the conversation of a particularly described person will constitute evidence of the particularly described crime ” (L. 1968, eh. 546).

The Supreme Court in the Berger decision said (p. 56):

‘$ The need for particularity and evidence of reliability in the showing required when judicial authorization of a search warrant is sought is especially great in the case of eavesdropping.” Recognizing this, or perhaps in addition, the Legislature (L. 1968, ch„ 546) required the petition to contain “ a statement of facts establishing that normal investigative procedures have been tried and have failed or reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed if tried or to be too dangerous to employ ” (Code Crim. Pro., § 817, subd. 2, par. [d]). (A statement of facts, incidentally which is totally lacking in the petition except for the bare assertion of the conclusion.)

This court would like to point out that there may have been probable cause for the issuance of some type of eavesdropping warrant. There may have indeed been probable cause to allow for the particular telephone numbers to be “tapped”. This court, however does not feel it is necessary to rule upon this very broad issue. To do so would unnecessarily involve issues and parties not before this court.

But let us now proceed' to examine the allegations in the supporting petition for the type and comprehensiveness of the warrant sought. A reading and analysis of the supporting affidavits hardly result in a finding of probable cause for the particular type of conversations sought to be overheard, or for a particularly described crime.

The supporting affidavit alleges that an unidentified reliable informant had told the police that the telephone numbers in question were being used in bookmaking operations involving many long distance telephone calls. This type of information, if sufficient, would hardly sustain the belief that layoff bets were the principal activity of the particular enterprise. Moreover, in regard to this alleged reliable information, no allegation is made as to how the informant came upon such information or the circumstances relative thereto. This seems to be [926]*926an explicit requirement of the case of Spinelli v. United States (393 U. S. 410), which was decided on January 27, 1969, just a few days before the issuance of this warrant. Such allegations also seem to be the requirement of People v. Hendricks (25 N Y 2d 129). Also, in this regard, it should be noted that subdivision 3 of section 817 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires that ‘ ‘ if the facts stated in the application are derived in whole or part from the statements of persons other than the applicant, the sources of such facts must be either disclosed or described, and the application must contain facts establishing the existence and reliability of the informants or the reliability of the information supplied by them ”.

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Related

Berger v. New York
388 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Katz v. United States
389 U.S. 347 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Spinelli v. United States
393 U.S. 410 (Supreme Court, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
65 Misc. 2d 923, 319 N.Y.S.2d 516, 1971 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1757, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sciandra-nybuffalocityct-1971.