People v. Johnson

• Citation: 169 N.E. 619,252 N.Y. 387
• Parties: PEOPLE v. JOHNSON.
• Decision Date: 07 January 1930
• Court: New York Court of Appeals

252 N.Y. 387

169 N.E. 619

PEOPLE

v.JOHNSON.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Jan. 7, 1930.

Ida Barrett Johnson was convicted of vagrancy in the Recorder's Court, and from a judgment of the County Court affirming the conviction, defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Appeal from Orange County Court.

Henry Hirschberg, of Newburgh, for appellant.

Elmer H. Lemon, Dist. Atty., of Newburgh, for the People.

POUND, J.

Defendant was arrested on April 6, 1929, on a charge of vagrancy under Cole of Criminal Procedure, section 887, subdivision 4, amended by Laws 1915, c. 285, § 1, and Laws 1919, c. 502, § 1 (prostitution), tried in the Recorder's Court of the City of Newburgh, found guilty, and sentenced under Code of Criminal Procedure, section 891-a, as added by Laws 1919, c. 502, § 3, for an indeterminate period, not to exceed three years, in the New York State Reformatory at Bedford.

Section 891-a reads as follows: ‘Any person convicted in a city of a violation of subdivision four of section eight hundred and eighty-seven of the code of criminal procedure, shall be committed by the court or judge to any reformatory or house of refuge or other correctional institution for a period not to exceed three years or to a county jail, penitentiary or other penal institution for a period not to exceed one year, or placed on probation for a period not to exceed three years, provided, in the case of a person infected with venereal disease, such probation shall be granted only upon such terms and conditions as shall insure medical treatment of such disease and prevent the spread thereof, and no girl or woman shall be placed on probation except to a woman probation officer where available. The provisions of this subdivision shall not supersede the provisions of chapter six hundred and fifty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred and ten or any amendment thereto, relating to the commitment of convicted persons.’ The conviction was proper on the evidence and the sentence was one which the recorder was authorized to impose. An appeal was taken to the County Court of Orange County by leave of a Justice of the Supreme Court. Judgment of conviction was affirmed, and an appeal to this court was allowed by a justice of the Appellate Division of the Second Judicial Department.

The appellant seeks to raise the point that the recorder had before him when he imposed sentence a report of a medical examination made pursuant to Public Health Law (Consol. Laws, c. 45) article 17-B, sections 343-m and 343-n, which revealed the fact that she was suffering from an infectious venereal disease; that he was influenced by such certificate in finding defendant guilty and in imposing sentence; and that her constitutional rights were thereby invaded.

The material sections of the Public Health Law read as follows:

Ԥ 343-m. Suspected Persons. Whenever the board of health or health officer of a health district shall have reasonable ground to believe that any person within the jurisdiction of such board or health officer is suffering from, or infected with, any infectious venereal disease and is likely to infect or to be the source of infection of any other person, such board of health or health officer shall cause a medical examination to be made of such person, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not such person is in fact suffering from, or infected with, such disease, and every such person shall submit to such examination and permit such specimens of blood or bodily discharges to be taken for laboratory examinations as may be necessary to establish the presence or absence of such disease or infection, and such person may be detained until the results of such examinations are known, provided, that the required examination shall be made by the health officer, or, at the option of the person to be examined, by a licensed physician who, in the opinion of the health officer, is qualified for this work and is approved by him, and such licensed physician making such examination shall report thereon to the board of health, health department or health officer, but shall not issued a certificate of freedom from venereal disease to or for the person examined. Such suspected person may apply to a magistrate for an order restraining such examination and no examination shall then be made except upon order of such magistrate. Before such examination each suspected person shall be informed of this right and be given an opportunity to avail himself or herself thereof.

‘§ 343-n. Persons under Arrest. Every person arrested for vagrancy as defined under subdivisions three or four of section eight hundred and eighty-seven of the code of criminal procedure or under section one hundred any fifty of the tenement house law or under any statute or ordinance for any offense of the nature specified in subdivision four of section eight hundred and eighty-seven of the code of criminal procedure, or arrested charged with a violation of section one thousand one hundred and forty-six or one thousand one hundred and forty-eight of the penal law, or any person arrested for frequenting disorderly houses or houses of prostitution, shall be reported within twenty-four hours by the court or magistrate before whom such person is arraigned to the board of health or health officer of the health district in which the alleged offense occurred, and shall be examined in accordance with the provisions of the preceding section. For purpose of examination and diagnosis as provided in the preceding section, such person may be detained until the results of such examination are known. No such person if convicted shall be released from the jurisdiction of such court or magistrate until the person so convicted has been examined as provided for in the preceding section.’

‘§ 343-r. Reports and Information Confidential. All reports or information secured by a board of health or health officer under the provisions of this article shall be absolutely confidential except in so far as is necessary to carry out the purpose of the article.’

It appears from the record that...