People v. Crist Trucking

• Decision Date: 07 January 1980
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York v. CRIST TRUCKING, Defendant.
• Court: New York City Court

Page 344

448 N.Y.S.2d 344

113 Misc.2d 136

The PEOPLE of the State of New York v. CRIST TRUCKING, Defendant.

City Court of Mount Vernon.

Jan. 7, 1980.

Philip C. Scarpino, Corp. Counsel, Mount Vernon, for the people.

Daniel J. O'Connor, for Crist Trucking.

SAM EISENBERG, Judge.

The defendant is charged with a very substantial number of parking violations in the City of Mount Vernon, for which "parking violation summonses" have been issued. The summonses issued are on a standard form prepared by and used in the City of Mount Vernon. They are identified as a "Parking Violation Summons" and contain among other things: the name of the Court; the license number of the offending vehicle; a description of the vehicle; the location and time of the offense; the nature of the offense (such as meter overtime parking, prohibited area, fire hydrant parking, double parking and others) and the return date of the summons. The defendant who is the registered owner of the vehicles, referred to in the various summonses, now moves this Court for supporting depositions as to each of the summonses, relying upon the authority of Section 100.25 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

Section 100.25 of the CPL, prior to its amendment in 1972 provided that "a simplified traffic information" must be substantially in the form prescribed by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles and that a person arraigned upon a "simplified traffic information" is entitled (subject to the statutory conditions) to a supporting deposition, containing allegations providing reasonable cause to believe that the defendant committed the offense or offenses charged.

In 1972 Section 100.25 of the CPL was amended to provide for "simplified information" in form prescribed not only by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicle, but also by the Commissioner of Parks and the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, as the case may be and for supporting depositions relative thereto. It did not otherwise enlarge the obligation to furnish supporting depositions.

The "simplified traffic information" is defined by Section 1.20, subd. 5(b) of the CPL as a written accusation "in a brief or simplified form prescribed by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles." The parking violation summonses with which this defendant is charged is not such an accusatory instrument. It is the instrumentality of local ordinance. Thus, depositions supporting these parking violation summonses are not mandated by Section 100.25 of the CPL.

The...