22 A.D.2d 683 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1964
Motion to dismiss petition granted and proceeding unanimously dismissed, without costs. When petitioner, a lieutenant in the Police Department of the City of New York, first -appeared before the Grand Jury of New York County—which was investigating allegations of bribery and corruption in the Police Department— he signed a limited waiver of immunity. When recalled before that Grand Jury on July. 22, 1964, petitioner refused to answer any questions claiming his privilege against self incrimination. Petitioner was then brought before a Justice of the Supreme Court who directed petitioner to answer. When petitioner persisted in his refusal to answer, he was held in criminal contempt and sentenced accordingly. Petitioner attacks the validity of the waiver of immunity he signed, and contends that in the absence of a valid waiver he was within his constitutional rights in refusing to answer before the Grand Jury. The adjudication for contempt must be sustained, however, irrespective of any substance to petitioner’s argument as to the continued effectiveness of the waiver of immunity. In Regan v. New York (349 U. S. 58) it was clearly held that one circumstanced as petitioner herein was required to