People v. Soto

192 Misc. 2d 161, 745 N.Y.S.2d 880, 2002 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 838
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedJuly 8, 2002
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 192 Misc. 2d 161 (People v. Soto) 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. Soto, 192 Misc. 2d 161, 745 N.Y.S.2d 880, 2002 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 838 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Patricia Nuñez, J.

The defendant is charged with sexual abuse in the third [162]*162degree, in violation of Penal Law § 130.55, and two counts of forcible touching, in violation of Penal Law § 130.52 (1) and (2). The defendant moves for an order dismissing the charge of forcible touching on the grounds of facial insufficiency and for various other relief.

A misdemeanor information is sufficient on its face if it contains nonhearsay factual allegations which, if true, establish every element of the offense and provide reasonable cause to believe the defendant committed the offense charged. (CPL 100.15 [3]; 100.40 [1] [b], [c].) Conclusory factual allegations are insufficient and render the accusatory instrument defective. (People v Dumas, 68 NY2d 729 [1986].) Moreover, the failure to establish a prima facie case in an information is a nonwaivable jurisdictional defect requiring dismissal of the accusatory instrument. (People v Alejandro, 70 NY2d 133, 139 [1987], citing People v Hall, 48 NY2d 927 [1979], and People v Case, 42 NY2d 98 [1977].)

A person is guilty of forcible touching when

“such person intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, forcibly touches the sexual or other intimate parts of another person:

“1. for the purpose of degrading or abusing such person; or
“2. for the purpose of gratifying the actor’s sexual desire.
“For the purposes of this section, forcible touching includes the squeezing, grabbing or pinching of such other person’s sexual or intimate parts.” (Penal Law § 130.52.)

That section must be read in conjunction with Penal Law § 130.05 which states that

“[w]hether or not specifically stated, it is an element of every offense defined in this article, except the offense of consensual sodomy, that the sexual act was committed without the consent of the victim.

“2. Lack of consent results from:

“(a) Forcible compulsion; or
“(b) Incapacity to consent; or
“(c) Where the offense charged is sexual abuse, any circumstances, in addition to forcible compulsion or incapacity to consent, in which the victim does not expressly or impliedly acquiesce in the actor’s conduct; or
“(d) Where the offense charged is rape in the third degree as defined in subdivision three of section 130.25, or sodomy in the third degree as defined in subdivision three of section 130.40, [163]*163in addition to forcible compulsion, circumstances under which, at the time of the act of intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse, the victim clearly expressed that he or she did not consent to engage in such act, and a reasonable person in the actor’s situation would have understood such person’s words and acts as an expression of lack of consent to such act under all the circumstances.”

Forcible touching became a crime in New York State on February 1, 2002. The Legislature added the offense of Penal Law § 130.52, a class A misdemeanor, as part of the Sexual Assault Reform Act in response to the well-known cases of the attacks on women in Central Park during a parade on June 13, 2000. (See Donnino, Supp Practice Commentary, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 39, 2002 Pocket Part, Penal Law art 130, at 118.)

The complaint herein provides, in pertinent part, that on December 12, 2001 at about 17:35 hours on the No. 3 train between 72nd and 42nd Street: “Deponent states that while the defendant was standing next to deponent on a subway train, the defendant twice placed his fingers on deponent’s vagina and pushed his fingers upon deponent’s vagina through deponent’s clothing. Deponent further states that defendant did not have consent to touch deponent’s vagina.”

The defendant argues that the forcible touching count is facially insufficient because it fails to allege facts establishing lack of consent as required by Penal Law § 130.05. According to the defendant, the People may only establish lack of consent in the forcible touching statute either through (1) forcible compulsion, or (2) incapacity to consent. He notes that Penal Law § 130.05 (2) (c) specifies that the lack of consent can be demonstrated by the surrounding circumstances if the charge is “sexual abuse.” No mention is made of “forcible touching.” Similarly, Penal Law § 130.05 (d) states specifically that lack of consent can be shown through surrounding circumstances when the charge is “rape in the third degree” or “sodomy in the third degree” and no mention is made of forcible touching therein either. Accordingly, he argues that forcible touching is excluded from the all inclusive list and that lack of consent cannot be proven through the surrounding circumstances but only through forcible compulsion or incapacity to consent. Were forcible touching to be read not to require forcible compulsion or incapacity to consent, the statute would be de facto identical to the already existing offense of sexual abuse in the third degree. In light of the foregoing, the defendant argues that the forcible touching count is facially insufficient because it fails to [164]*164allege facts showing either incapácity to consent or forcible compulsion.

The People argue that Penal Law § 130.05 (2) (c) should not be read so narrowly as to exclude “forcible touching” from the definition of “sexual abuse”; that the term “forcible touching” is a form of “sexual abuse” and that lack of consent can be established through the surrounding circumstances, and not solely through incapacity or forcible compulsion. Such a reading would not render the forcible touching statute de facto identical to sexual abuse in the third degree since there is an alternative intent element in the former that does not exist in the latter, i.e., that a defendant intend to “degrade” or “abuse” a person, instead of rather to gratify his sexual desires.

The defendant relies on People v Parbhu (191 Misc 2d 473 [Crim Ct, NY County 2002]), which rejected the People’s interpretation and followed a narrow reading of Penal Law § 130.05. This court most respectfully disagrees with that reading of the statute and believes that statutory interpretation, public policy and common sense require a different interpretation of the statute. Additionally, the court takes notice that the Legislature is seeking to clarify its intent regarding the forcible touching statute to rectify a gap perceived by some in the present law; an action that supports the view that a narrow reading of the statute is not what the Legislature intended. (2001 NY Senate Bill S 5313A.)

It is a well established principle that in interpreting a statute, a court’s primary obligation is to determine and give effect to the legislative intent. (See McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 1, Statutes § 92 [a], [b]; § 76.) “Where words of a statute are free from ambiguity and express plainly, clearly and distinctively the legislative intent, resort may not be had to other means of interpretation.” (§ 76.) “Language [of a portion of an act,] which, when separated from the rest, is thus plain and unambiguous may, when read in connection with the whole act, be thereby rendered ambiguous and [thereupon] the necessity for construction arises.” (See People ex rel. Onondaga County Sav. Bank v Butler,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 Misc. 2d 161, 745 N.Y.S.2d 880, 2002 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 838, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-soto-nycrimct-2002.