Ruth " S " v. George " S "

63 Misc. 2d 1
CourtNew York City Family Court
DecidedMay 21, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 63 Misc. 2d 1 (Ruth " S " v. George " S ") is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York City Family Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruth " S " v. George " S ", 63 Misc. 2d 1 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1970).

Opinion

Millard L. Midoktick, J.

Has the Family Court initial jurisdiction over incestuous conduct between brother, 16 to 17 years of age, and sister, 12 to 13 years of age ? If so, shall such jurisdiction be retained in the Family Court, or in the exercise of discretion, transferred for criminal procedures under section 816 of the Family Court Act because the processes of the Family Court are inappropriate to the circumstances of this particular cause?

If the Family Court has initial jurisdiction over this type of unlawful conduct, criminal courts and grand juries are required to avoid action on the merits of the problem unless and until the Family Court shall have transferred the cause for criminal procedures after a hearing in which Family Court determines that its procedures are inappropriate. (People v. Johnson, 20 NY 2d 220; People v. Fowlkes, 24 N Y 2d 274, 287; Family Ct. Act, § 816.)

This is not a case of conduct by the male when under the age of 16 years, which would of course be cognizable as juvenile delinquency. (Family Ct. Act, § 731.) The respondent here is the son of the petitioning mother who complains on behalf of her infant daughter. The respondent was born on November 16, 1952. His sister was born on December 31, 1956. This brother and sister produced a baby born on February 8,1970. The baby was conceived approximately in May, 1969, at which time the respondent was several months over the age of 16 years,- and his sister 12.

The complaining mother filed an information in the Criminal Court of the City of New York, County of New York, on April 10, 1970, two months after the birth of the baby, alleging in effect both a delinquency and an adult crime, in that the inces[3]*3tuous conduct was indulged in by the respondent with his sister in violation of section 255.25 of the Penal Law, during the period from the summer of 1968 to the fall of 1969, respondent having attained 16 on November 16,1968. Incest is classified as a class “ E ” felony. (Penal Law, § 255.25.)

The facts as to the three birth dates above were stipulated, as was the relationship of respondent and his sister as siblings of the whole blood. It was further stipulated by counsel for respondent and by the complaining mother of the respondent, that findings and hearing for the purpose of fact finding were waived. (Family Ct. Act, § 835, subd. [a]) and that Family Court may proceed to a consent decree, i.e., a consent order of protection, as though the allegations of the petition were proved.

This respondent is merely accused, not of juvenile delinquency,1 but of “ assault ” and private " disorderly conduct ” directed against a member of his family, wherefore the petitioner prays, not for a delinquency adjudication, but for an order of protection specifying conditions of behavior to be observed by respondent in accordance with sections 815 and 842 of the Family Court Act, and that the procedures of this court be utilized in an effort to adjust the family difficulties. The Legislature expressly gave as its purpose to create a “ civil proceeding ” to give “ practical help ” in the Family Court which ‘ ‘ is better equipped to render such help ’ ’ and to avoid a “ a criminal conviction”. (Family Ct. Act, § 811.) Such a respondent is conditionally protected against criminal proceedings, not only by “exclusive original jurisdiction” under Family Court Act, section 812, but also by the hitherto uncommented upon section 845, Family Court Act, which provides: “ When the terms of an order of disposition made under this article are satisfied, no criminal proceeding may be commenced with respect to the acts which would constitute disorderly conduct, harassment, menacing, reckless endangerment, assault or attempt [sp] assault on which the adjudication giving rise to the order of disposition was based.”

[4]*4While a guilty respondent, if the Family Court retains jurisdiction, may be subject to a suspended judgment, probation, or an order of protection (§§ 841, 842), he may not be incarcerated for the original misbehavior, in this ease, incest. Only upon his willful failure to obey any such order of the court, may the court, after another hearing and a finding by competent proof of the willful violation of the order, commit the respondent to jail for a term not to exceed six months (§ 846) and/or transfer him to criminal procedures (§ 845).

Did the Legislature intend to confer exclusive initial jurisdiction upon the Family Court and, in its sound discretion, to retain, or to transfer for criminal procedures, the unlawful conduct known as incest? The Supreme Court, in the Appellate Division for the Second Department, and at Special Term, has ruled in the negative in eases involving sodomy between members of the same household. (People ex rel. Doty v. Krueger, 32 A D 2d 845, affg. by memorandum 58 Misc 2d 428 [cousins] ; People v. Fuentes, 51 Misc 2d 354 [father and daughter].) While the lower court in Krueger attempts to weigh the seriousness of the felonious sexual misconduct as not within the ambit of assault and disorderly conduct, quoting the Court of Appeals in People v. Johnson (20 N Y 2d 220, 225) for the proposition that only mere “ domestic quarrels ” are removed “from the ambit of the criminal law” (58 Misc 2d 428, 429-430), that Special Term opinion fails to give controlling weight to the felonious assault despite which the indictment was invalidated in People v. Johnson (supra, p. 222). Under the former Penal Law, defendant Johnson was indicted for assault in the second degree, a felony, in that he assaulted his wife with a knife. The judgment of conviction was unanimously reversed by the Court of Appeals, the indictment dismissed and the matter transferred to the Family Court (p. 226). The Court of Appeals further stated (pp. 223-224): “ There is little danger that truly criminal conduct will be treated as a ‘ family offense ’ rather than as a crime and go unpunished. An order of the Family Court which denies transfer of the family offense proceeding to a criminal court is subject to review (Family Ct. Act, § 1012; see People v. Davis, 27 A D 2d 229, 305) and will undoubtedly be reversed if the retention of the case constitutes an abuse of discretion.”

The Appellate Division affirmed in Krueger (supra) “ on the opinion of the learned Justice at Special Term. We agree that proceedings concerning sodomy and sexual abuse, each in the first degree, committed between members [cousins] of the same household, are not transferable to the Family Court pursuant [5]*5to section 812 of the Family Court Act.”2 The Appellate Division seems in Krueger to emphasize beyond the seriousness of the criminal conduct, the difference in quality between a felonious assault, and sodomy by a man upon his nine-year-old cousin. Perhaps such direct jurisdictional attention by the Supreme Court, by-passing Family Court, is justifiable, and if so, on another theory only, under subdivision a of section 19 of article VI of the Constitution of the State of New York: ‘ ‘ As may be provided by law,3

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

Related

In re Shamper v. Shamper
1 A.D.2d 441 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2003)
People v. Markidis
184 Misc. 2d 116 (Rochester City Court, 2000)
In re Linda O.
95 Misc. 2d 744 (NYC Family Court, 1978)
Di Donna v. Di Donna
72 Misc. 2d 231 (NYC Family Court, 1972)
In re Gigi B.
71 Misc. 2d 176 (NYC Family Court, 1972)
United States v. Mabel E. Harrison
461 F.2d 1209 (D.C. Circuit, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 Misc. 2d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruth-s-v-george-s-nycfamct-1970.