This is a motion by the defendant Reuben Beshany, in which the remaining defendants join, “ for an order dismissing the charges contained in the complaints filed against the defendant on the ground that the same are
A hearing was ordered on the motion of the four defendants and the facts found by the court on the hearing are set forth as an addendum to this opinion and will be referred to hereafter on the questions of law involved only insofar as it is necessary to do so to make this opinion intelligible.
From the evidence adduced at the hearing it appears that certain tangible objects were obtained through a search and seizure — without a warrant — made as an incident to a number of arrests, also without warrants. It further appears that the ability of the law-enforcement officials to demonstrate the existence of probable cause for the arrest depends upon the admissibility of self incriminating statements made by the several defendants in the course of telephone communications intercepted by the police. The wire taps by which this was accomplished were authorized by orders of a Justice of the Supreme Court and the defendants now question the sufficiency of the warrant for the judicial sanction thus given to the eavesdropping by which their criminal activities and plans were found out.
Except as permitted by section 739, article 73 of the Penal Law condemns this form of eavesdropping as criminal. To be exempt from the ban, the interception — under the circumstances disclosed in this case — must be authorized by an ex parte order issued “ upon oath or affirmation of a district attorney * * * that there is reasonable ground to believe that evidence of crime may be thus obtained, and particularly describing the person * * * whose communications, conversations or discussions are to be overheard or recorded and the purpose thereof, and, in the case of * * * telephonic communication, identifying the particular telephone number * * * involved. In connection with the issuance of such an order the justice * * * may examine on oath the applicant and any other witness he may produce and shall satisfy himself of the existence of reasonable grounds for the granting of such application.” Such order is to be effective for the time specified therein, not exceeding two months, unless extended
In the application for that original order, an Assistant District Attorney deposed that on May 2,1962 one Carolyn Oelkers (also known as Caroline Coleman) had signed an affidavit alleging that three named men ‘ ‘ violated section 851 of the Penal Law in that defendants obtained money or property with her consent induced by the wrongful use of force or fear. That on May 22, 1962 the said Carolyn Oelkers * * * appeared as a witness before the Grand Jury and her testimony was in conflict with the statements made in the aforesaid affidavit and statements made to this office. That your deponent has been informed by the witness, off the record, not before the Grand Jury, that she committed perjury at the time she appeared as a witness before the Grand Jury. That your deponent believes on information and belief that a complaint has been made to the Nassau County Police, 4th Squad, Hewlett, New York. Your deponent is informed and verily believes * * * that such interception will enable the law-enforcement officials of this county to collect further evidence pertaining to the perjury, extortion, attempted extortion, bribery and the obstruction of justice in the aforementioned matter.”
The facts, if any, upon which the conclusions contained in the affidavit were based, were not disclosed by the affiant on whose application the interception order was issued. The District Attorney thereafter obtained another order, dated October 10, 1963, authorizing the interception of messages transmitted over two different telephone lines listed under the name of Jean Coleman, although installed for the same Carolyn Oelkers. The affidavit upon which the order was issued was almost identical, in its averments, with the affidavit upon which the order of September 20, 1963 was based except, of course, that it referred to two different trunk lines. The extension of the order of September 20, 1963 was effectuated
All of the defendants were arrested on November 13, 1963. Thereafter, they were arraigned in the Criminal Court of the City of New York upon complaints charging defendant Oelkers with an “attempt to violate Sec. 71 Penal Law” about September 10, 1963 to November 13, 1963 at various locations in the County of Queens “ in that, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, she took drugs during that period and on November 13, 1963, went to premises 88-24 Merrick Boulevard for the purpose of having an abortion performed upon her person defendants Beshany, Feldman and Wenger were charged with an attempt to commit an abortion upon the person of Carolyn Oelkers by their concerted action (pursuant to their mutual plan) by which defendant Wenger had allowed the use of her apartment for the purpose and defendant Feldman accepted and held $500 for the purpose of paying defendant Beshany who, as Feldman knew, had agreed to perform the abortion upon defendant Oelkers for that money; under a separate complaint, all four were charged with a conspiracy to commit an abortion upon the defendant Oelkers. Pending further action in the Criminal Court upon these charges, the defendants moved, in this court, for an order suppressing the physical evidence and statements obtained from the defendants.
At the conclusion of the hearing the defense counsel moved for the exclusion of the contents of the brown bag and such other material evidence as was taken from the Wenger apartment on the evening of the 13th on the ground that they were products of an illegal search and seizure. He also moved for the exclusion of any statements made by the defendants, in view of the stipulated facts as to the timing of the attorneys’ calls to the police station.
In opposition, the District Attorney contended that the police had probable cause for the arrests which were made but agreed that if the wire-tap orders were ineffective ‘ ‘ everything falls by the wayside ’ ’. Although this ‘ ‘ opinion as to the law is in no sense a concession binding on the court(s) ” which may or may not accept the view thus expressed (People v. Mussenden,
Upon the facts, as found, the reasonableness of the incidental search and seizure depends on the legality of the prior arrests, without warrants, and for the lawfulness of such arrests the District Attorney necessarily relies upon the products of the intercepted telephone conversations for otherwise the police can demonstrate no reasonable cause for believing that felonies had been committed by Allan Feldman and Carolyn Oelkers (Code Grim. Pro., § 177, subd. 4) in that the former had supplied and advised the Oelkers woman to take a drug, with intent to bring about her miscarriage (Penal Law, § 80, subd. 1) and that she, accordingly, had accepted and taken the drug, with that intent (id., § 81) or that they and others had, within the hearing of the officers, hatched a conspiracy to procure performance of an a/bortion upon Carolyn Oelkers, had performed overt acts in its furtherance and planned to do still other acts for the attainment of the criminal end (Penal Law, § 580, subd. 1; § 583; Code Crim. Pro., § 177, subd. 1).
If these items of incriminating evidence were obtained in violation of defendants’ constitutional rights (N. Y. Const., art. I, § 12) they could not be used to secure a conviction, for the law laid down in the Before (
At the hearing, the District Attorney took the position that the legality of the interception orders could not be determined in this proceeding. His contention — that the exercise of discretionary power by the Justice who made the ex parte orders could not be reviewed by me as another Justice of the court— was based upon the opinions written in People v. Cohen (
In the Cohen, Scardaccione and Golly cases, the pretrial motions by which the issue was raised were" frankly exploratory, seeking, rather than pointing out, foundational faults beneath the wire-tap orders. In this case, as in the Benanti case, the fact that a wire tap had been authorized and installed was a surprise disclosure occurring in the course of the presentation of evidence upon the trial of a different issue. In Benanti, the facts were elicited during trial, on cross-examination of the police and counsel promptly moved for suppression (
The policy factors influencing the establishment of the procedure created by Nardone (supra, pp. 341-342) were these: ‘ ‘ Dispatch in the trial of criminal causes is essential in bringing crime to book. Therefore, timely steps must be taken to secure judicial determination of claims of illegality on the part of agents of the government in obtaining testimony. To interrupt the course of the trial for such auxiliary inquiries impedes the momentum of the main proceeding and breaks the continuity of the jury’s attention. Like mischief would result were tenuous claims sufficient to justify the trial court’s indulgence of inquiry into the legitimacy of evidence in the
These may be the considerations which led Justice Rinaldi, in granting the suppression motion in the very same Cohen case (
The constitutional mandate — that “ ex parte orders or warrants shall issue only upon oath or affirmation that there is reasonable ground to believe that evidence of crime may be thus obtained ” (N. T. Const., art. I, § 12) is firmed up by a statutory limitation on the class and rank of eligible applicants and a legislative direction that the judicial officer concerned “ shall satisfy himself of the existence of reasonable grounds for the granting of such application ’ ’, and he must extend or renew his order only ‘ ‘ upon satisfying himself that such extension or renewal is in the public interest ” (Code Grim. Pro., § 813-a). The terms ‘ ‘ reasonable grounds ”, “ reason to believe ’ ’ and ‘ ‘ reasonable cause ’ ’ are employed interchangeably, as equivalents in meaning to “probable cause” (see People v. Coffey, 12 N Y 2d 443, 450-451; Draper v. United States,
Clearly, the Legislature ‘1 has provided, in no uncertain manner, as a condition precedent * * * that the question of probable cause * * * shall be determined by the issuing judge * * * and not by the affiant” (Maser v. State,
The applicant was an assistant in charge of the Backets Bureau of the District Attorney’s office, with training and experience in ferreting out evidence of crime and in prosecuting the perpetrators. The Justice who made the orders was entitled to rely upon the assistant’s special training and experience when he accepted the affiant’s conclusory allegations of ultimate facts by which it was made to appear that Carolyn Oelkers, when called before the Grand Jury to testify as to the facts of the alleged extortion attempt theretofore made upon her, exonerated— or at least did not inculpate — those whom she had previously accused of the offense, and that in so doing she committed perjury in one or more respects. The facts and circumstances thus alleged could justify substantially more than suspicion or possibility that a timely interception of the recalcitrant witness’ telephone conversations would provide evidence of the reasons for her perjury and possibly disclose the identity of the person or persons who had either suborned the perjury or intimidated the witness and, in either event, had thereby obstructed the administration of justice. However, the only dates mentioned in the respective affidavits for the wire-tap orders are May 2, 1962 and May 22, 1962. It is alleged that on May 2, Carolyn Oelkers signed an affidavit alleging that three named men “ obtained money or property with her consent induced by the unlawful use of force or fear.” That on May 22 she 11 appeared as a witness before the Grand Jury and her testimony was in conflict with the statements made in the aforesaid affidavit.” The first wire-tap order was not obtained until September 20, 1963, some 16 months thereafter and the affidavit of the Assistant District Attorney is completely silent as to when he first learned of the perjury. For that reason there was an insufficient showing to warrant a determination that probable cause existed at that time for insurance of the orders. In the absence of other pertinent circumstances, not here shown to exist, information 16 months old must be considered stale as a matter of law. Of necessity, this conclusion is reached by drawing upon principles judicially established in search and seizure cases but, within obvious limits, their application to interception cases seems entirely appropriate.
In the separate opinion of Mr. Justice Beynolds in Sgro v. United States (
This basic requirement is not met if “ facts on which the affidavit was made and the warrant was issued were stale at the time ” (Peccio v. State,
On its face, the affidavit of September 19, 1963 was insufficient to establish probable cause for belief in the existence of grounds for the issuance of the order of September 20, 1963 in that the affidavit failed to supply the actual or approximate date when Carolyn Oelkers revealed to the Assistant District Attorney the perjury committed by her some 16 months prior to the application for the order. The time, being essential to a determination of probable cause', “must appear upon the face of the affidavit and of course, the nearer it is to the time of the application the more effective it is to justify a conclusion of probable cause ” (Waggener v. McCanless,
The same defect underlies the orders of October 10, 1963 and October 21, 1963, respectively, since they were issued upon
This consequence is not avoided by the fact that Mrs. Wenger admitted the police to her apartment.
At best, police assertions of admission to the dwellings of suspects, by invitation or consent, are subject to suspicion that entry was actually effectuated by royal suggestion (Johnson v. Zerbst,
There remains for decision the treatment that should be given the unlawful wire-tap interceptions. The want of specific statutory authority has not, in the past, deterred the courts from exercising an inherent power to suppress illegally obtained evidence (People v. Loria, 10 N Y 2d 368, 374; People v. Politano, 17 A D 2d 503, affid. 13 N Y 2d 852; People v. Du Bois,
In view of my conclusion, I do not find it necessary to pass on the additional contention of two of the defendants, that the statements they gave to the police may not be used against them in view of the conceded fact that they were obtained while the defendants were in custody and at a time when their counsel had informed the police and the District Attorney that they did not desire their clients to be interviewed (Escobedo v. Illinois,
For the reasons above set forth the motion of all four defendants is granted to the extent of suppressing the physical evidence, the statements obtained from the defendants as a result of their arrest, and the statements intercepted pursuant to the wire-tap orders. Short form order signed and entered.
