57 Misc. 2d 678 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1968
The defendant, charged in the Criminal Court of the City of New York with the misdemeanor of criminal possession of a dangerous drug in the fourth degree, moves this court for an order directing prosecution by indictment in the Supreme Court. The motion papers make it clear that the
The Criminal Court of the City of New York is, by virtue of an act of the Legislature (L. 1962, ch. 697, eff. Sept. 1, 1962), the successor to the former Court of Special Sessions of the City of New York. It was long the law that jurisdiction to try misdemeanor charges in the City of New York was vested in either the Court of Special Sessions or, in a limited class of cases, in the Magistrates’ Court of the City of New York. Such jurisdiction was created by the Legislature under authority granted by section 18 of article VI of the State Constitution, which article contained a provision that ‘ ‘ In the exercise of such jurisdiction such courts may hear and determine such causes with or without a jury, except those involving a felony.” In the City of New York legislative provisions established the practice of trial by the court alone, without a jury, in misdemeanor cases. The Court of Appeals early held that such practice was constitutional and did not violate the right to jury trial preserved inviolate by section 2 of article I of the State Constitution (People v. Kaminsky, 208 N. Y. 389). Kaminsky has never been overruled and, indeed, has never been questioned until the very recent decision in Duncan (supra). The present motion is, of course, a claim sub silentio that insofar as the State Constitution provides for trial of misdemeanor cases without a jury, that constitutional provision itself violates the defendant’s rights under the Federal Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantee of the right to trial by jury. The provisions of section 19 of article VI were reincorporated in section 15 of article VI of the State Constitution effective January 1, 1962.
The precise question presented by this motion is whether or not Duncan (supra) compels this court to hold that, in fact and in law, a defendant prosecuted in the Criminal Court of the City of New York is by very virtue of such prosecution entitled to a trial by jury. In the solution of this question it is necessary to determine whether or not the facts in Duncan (supra) and those in the case at bar are so similar as to compel the conclusion that the ratio decidendi of Duncan is controlling in the present case.
The Supreme OoUrt, in holding that Duncan’s right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution had been violated, rejected Louisiana’s contention that it was the actual sentence imposed which controlled, and held that the hazard of the much more severe potential sentence of two years was the determinative consideration.
Section 220.05 of the revised Penal Law establishes the crime of criminal possession of a dangerous drug in the fourth degree and denominates that crime as a Class A misdemeanor for which section 70.15 imposes a maximum sentence of one year. The question presents itself: Does a statute which provides for a maximum sentence of one year fall within the ambit of Duncan i This court holds, as a matter of law, that it does not. Support for the court’s position is found in the statement by White, J. in the Duncan case (391 U. S. 145,160-161, supra): “ Of course, the boundaries of the petty offense category have always been ill-defined, if not ambulatory. Ih the absence of an explicit constitutional provision, the definitional task necessarily falls on the courts, which must either pass upon the validity of legislative attempts to identify those petty offenses which are exempt from jury trial or, where the legislature has not addressed itself to the problem, themselves face the question in the first instance. In either case, it is necessary to draw a line in the spectrum of crime, separating petty from serious infractions. This process, although essential, cannot be wholly satisfactory, for it requires attaching different consequences to events which, when they lie near the line, actually differ very little.”
Mr. Justice White, continuing, pointed out that in 49 of the 50 States, crimes subject to trial without a jury are punishable by no more than one year in jail. The defendant contends, however, that notwithstanding the statutory maximum of otte year’s imprisonment, the court may impose incarceration of up to four years. He calls attention to the provisions of sections 70.15, 75.10 and 75.20 of the Penal Law by virtue of which the defend
In fine, this court rules that the factual possibility of a four-year duration of a commitment of a defendant convicted of a misdemeanor does not alter the essential fact that the punitive provision of the statute extends only to a period of one year. This being so, the court holds, Duncan v. Louisiana (supra) is not controlling.
There is another consideration which compels the same conclusion. The State Constitution (art. VI) has vested in the Legislature the power to establish jurisdiction of the various criminal courts to try defendants for those types of crime which
Finally, it would, in the opinion of this court, be unseemly for the court to lay upon the statutory structure of the criminal law within the City of New York the stigma of unconstitutionality. The matter is of such great importance that such a pronouncement should be made, if at all, by the Court of Appeals. The consequences of a decision granting the defendant’s motion would be grave indeed. It is unnecessary to cite specific statistics; the court takes judicial notice of the fact that in the Criminal Court of the City of New York many thousands of cases are adjudicated each year without a trial by jury. Such a decision would cast doubt on the constitutional validity of thousands of judgments of conviction in cases previously tried. It would, in addition, seriously affect the ability of that court to expeditiously dispose of its huge backlog of cases now pend
For the foregoing reasons the motion is denied.