People v. Oliver
| Decision Date | 21 October 2002 |
| Citation | 193 Misc.2d 250,750 N.Y.S.2d 449 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Plaintiff,<BR>v.<BR>WILLIAM OLIVER, Defendant. |
| Court | New York District Court |
Douglas P. Bates, Auburn, for defendant.
James B. Vargason, District Attorney, Auburn (Christopher Valdina of counsel), for plaintiff.
Defendant moves to dismiss an accusatory instrument charging him with falsely reporting an incident in the third degree in violation of Penal Law § 240.50 (3) (a) on grounds that a false statement he made to the police was the result of solicitation and not gratuitously given as required by the statute.
According to the information and supporting affidavits, on June 26, 2002 the defendant was questioned by Investigators McLeod and Weeks of the Cayuga County Sheriff's Department concerning a robbery and assault which occurred at the Highway Oil Gas Station in the Town of Aurelius. The next morning the defendant told his mother that Investigator Weeks had stolen $300 from him during that questioning. His mother then proceeded to call the State Police who sent Investigators Gould and Stebbins to investigate the defendant's claim. While present at his mother's residence, the defendant repeated his stolen money claim to the two investigators. Two days later the defendant in a written statement admitted that the claim was false.
Penal Law § 240.50 (3) (a) reads in pertinent part as follows:
"A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless, he: * * * [g]ratuitously reports to a law enforcement officer or agency (a) the alleged occurrence of an offense or incident which did not in fact occur."
The issue presented is whether the statements to the two State Police investigators on June 26, 2002 were made gratuitously as that term has been defined. The term gratuitously has been interpreted to mean "volunteered and unsolicited" and held not to apply to false answers given to police officers in response to questions put by them during the course of an investigation. (People ex rel. Morris v Skinner, 67 Misc 2d 221 [1971]; see also People v Clairborne, 36 AD2d 500, revd on other grounds 29 NY2d 950 [1972].) In both these cases, the courts dismissed informations charging the defendants with falsely reporting an incident in the third degree.
In the case herein, although the information was given in response to questioning by two investigators, it must be noted that the investigators were there as a result of a complaint by the defendant's mother after the defendant, her 18-year-old son, had informed her that a deputy sheriff had stolen $300. Therefore, the presence of the investigators...
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People v. Taylor
...false information to the police ( see Penal Law § 240.50[3][a]; People v. Clairborne, 36 A.D.2d 500, 323 N.Y.S.2d 527; People v. Oliver, 193 Misc.2d 250, 750 N.Y.S.2d 449; People v. Li, 192 Misc.2d 380, 745 N.Y.S.2d 683; People ex rel. Morris v. Skinner, 67 Misc.2d 221, 323 N.Y.S.2d 905). M......
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The People v. Taylor
..."gratuitously" reported false information to the police (see Penal Law § 240.50[3][a]; People v Clairborne, 36 AD2d 500; People v Oliver, 193 Misc 2d 250; People v Li, 192 Misc 2d 380; People ex rel. Morris v Skinner, 67 Misc 2d 221). Moreover, even assuming that the evidence was legally su......
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People v. Brito, CR-016582-18KN
...evidence established that defendant's 911 call in which he reported an assault that did not occur was a gratuitous report"]; People v. Oliver , 193 Misc 2d 250 [City Ct, Auburn 2002] ["defendant started a chain of events resulting in police questioning and therefore was responsible for init......