149 Misc. 461 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1933
The indictment herein charges both of the defendants with the crime of murder, first degree.
The one defendant, Zvezdovics, asks relief under two motions: First, for a separate trial, and second, for an inspection and permission to translate certain alleged incriminating letters now in the possession of the People and claimed by them to have been written by the moving defendant to her codefendant.
The motions are made upon affidavits of assigned counsel for the moving defendant. These affidavits must be taken at their face value as no objection was made thereto nor were their contents controverted by opposing affidavits. No notice of the motions was given to the counsel for the defendant Wargo nor was there any appearance upon his part.
The defendants are jointly indicted under language which charges both defendants with having actually participated in the slaying of the husband of the defendant Zvezdovics. The facts disclose, however, that the defendant Wargo was the actual killer. Upon arrest he made a written confession in which he charged that the moving defendant, the woman Zvezdovics, aided, abetted, counseled and urged him to commit the deed in order to carry on the alleged illicit- relations of the two defendants. The moving defendant did not, in this instance, make a written confession. The case of People v. Snyder (246 N. Y. 491) is not a parallel to this case. In that case the defendants each made written confessions and testified upon their joint trial to facts implicating the other. The People upon that trial occupied a position most frequently encountered in civil actions in modern times. A plaintiff passenger in one automobile having sued two drivers sits idly by during the trial while the two defendants, booted and spurred, dash at each other, generally to the resultant damage of both. Where the stakes are human lives, the contest should not degenerate into a battle of wits.
The sacred right of this defendant woman to a fair trial demands,
The second motion of the defendant Zvezdovics asks for the inspection with the privilege of interpretation of certain alleged incriminating letters claimed to have been written in the Hungarian language by the moving defendant to the defendant Wargo. There is no authority in this State to prevent a trial court in a proper case from granting to a defendant an inspection of primary evidence against him. The case of People ex rel. Lemon v. Supreme Court (245 N. Y. 24, at p. 33) left open the question of the right of inspection in criminal cases. The case of People v. Walsh (262 N. Y. 140, at p. 149) while also limiting its decision did establish the right of a defendant upon trial to require that the People produce a written document in their possession which might be favorable to the defendant. The following principles were enunciated in the opinion in that case: “It has always been and still is the rule that the defense has no right to go ‘ upon a tour of investigation, in the hope that they would find something which would aid them,’ ” and “ ‘ The state
The court is under a duty to compel the production of competent documents at the very moment they are called for by counsel for the defendant when the circumstances of the case make them presently important. (People v. Miller, 257 N. Y. 54, at p. 59.)
The following circumstances make the letters in question presently important at this time in order that the defendant may properly prepare for trial expert evidence as to their authenticity. The letters would not be competent evidence upon the part of the defendant but only upon the part of the prosecution. No harm can be done to the State by permitting the defendant the right of inspection. On the other hand, these letters are written in a foreign language. The language employed may not only be colloquial but may also call for a clear understanding of some unfamiliar dialect. The difficulty of such interpretation is apparent to any one familiar with modern court procedure. The defendant Zvezdovics should be granted the right of such inspection and privilege of interpretation.
Orders may be entered in accordance with this opinion.