Friscia v. Crowe

• Decision Date: 02 August 1972
• Citation: 335 N.Y.S.2d 453,71 Misc.2d 79
• Parties: Louise FRISCIA, individually, et al., Petitioners, v. William J. CROWE, Jr. as acting Village Justice of the Village of Muttontown, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court

Page 453

335 N.Y.S.2d 453

71 Misc.2d 79

Louise FRISCIA, individually, et al., Petitioners, v. William J. CROWE, Jr. as acting Village Justice of the

Village of Muttontown, Respondent.

Supreme Court, Special Term, Nassau County, Part I.

Aug. 2, 1972.

Russ, Weyl & Levitt, Massapequa, for petitioners.

Humes, Andrews, Botzow & Wagner, Locust Valley, for respondent.

MEMORANDUM

BERNARD F. McCAFFREY, Justice.

In this special proceeding to prohibit the Village Justice of Muttontown from conducting the trial of petitioners before himself without a jury, judgment is granted respondent dismissing the petition.

The CPL Section 10.10 defines a 'Village Court' as a 'Local Criminal Court' and Section 340.40 (subd. 1), of the CPL, except for certain exceptions not applicable to the violations of zoning ordinance charged here, provides that a trial of an information in a local criminal court must be a 'single judge trial.'

As early as 1895, the Court of Appeals had held that under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the defendant in prosecutions for violations of a Village ordinance before police justices was not entitled to trial by jury. People v. Van Houten, 13 Misc. 603, 35 N.Y.S. 186, 69 N.Y.St.R. 265, 11 N.Y.Cr.R. 420, affirmed 91 Hun 638, 36 N.Y.S. 1130, 70 N.Y.St.R. 907 (1895). More recently, the United States Supreme Court has held that a defendant in a prosecution for a 'serious offense' is entitled to a jury trial under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 194, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 20 L.Ed.2d 491, 522 (1968). The term 'serious offense' was then defined as any offense carrying a possible prison sentence of more than six months. Baldwin v. New York, 399 U.S. 66, 90 S.Ct. 1886, 26 L.Ed.2d 437 (1970). Under Baldwin, a defendant charged with a misdemeanor with possible sentence of more than six months in jail would have a constitutional right to trial by jury. Unchanged was the procedure for prosecution of violations, for a 'violation' by definition 'means an offense, other than a 'traffic infraction', for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment in excess of fifteen days cannot be imposed.' Penal Law Sec. 10.00, subds. 1, 3.

Subsequent decisions have held that the recent Supreme Court decisions have not altered the practice for prosecution of violations. People v. L. A. Witherill, Inc., 29 N.Y.2d 446, 328 N.Y.S.2d 668, 278 N.E.2d 905 (1972); People v. Cooks of New York, Inc., 65 Misc.2d 790, 318 N.Y.S.2d 960 (1971). Both of ...