People v. Yannucci
| Decision Date | 24 July 1940 |
| Citation | 283 N.Y. 546,29 N.E.2d 185 |
| Parties | PEOPLE v. YANNUCCI et al. |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.
Peter Yannucci, true name Peter Paul Yannucci, Alfred De. Viva, Andrew Grossi, Yannucci, Alfred De Viva, Andrew Grossi, true name Dominick Aloysius Yaannucci, were indicted for rape in the first degree. From separate orders of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, 258 App.Div. 171, 15 N.Y.S.2d 865, entered December 4, 1939, which reversed on the law a judgment of the Queens County Court as to each defendant, entered upon a verdict convicting the several defendants of the crime of rape in the first degree, dismissed the indictment as to each defendant, and directed his discharge from custody, the People appeal by permission.
As to each defendant, order of the Appellate Division reversed and judgment of County Court affirmed. Charles P. Sullivan, Dist. Atty., of Long Island City (J. Irwin Shapiro, of Long Island City, and Edmund C. Rowan, of Jackson Heights, of counsel), for appellant.
Samuel S. Leibowitz, of New York City, and Julius A. Itzkowitz, of Brooklyn, for respondents.
Six defendants were tried for the crime of rape, first degree, upon an indictment which charged the commission of the crime upon complainant ‘when her resistance was prevented by fear of immediate and great bodily harm, which she had reasonable cause to believe would be inflicted upon her.’ (Italics supplied.) The complainant testified that she offered no further resistance after the appearance of three of the defendants other than Yannucci; that she realized she could not get away; that she was completely paralysed, speechless and numb. One defendant did not appeal.
There is only one question involved here. The Appellate Division reversed on the law. Section 543-a of the Code of Criminal Procedure reads as follows:
That leaves a very narrow point to be decided. In People v. Marino, 271 N.Y. 317, 3 N.E.2d 439, 440, 105 A.L.R. 1283 there was an indictment for receiving stolen goods. The reversal there was upon the law. Chief Judge Crane said:
Paraphrasing that statement in the instant case, the facts which have been affirmed are that the defendants perpetrated an act of sexual intercourse with the complainant, a female not the wife of any of them, against her will and without her consent, when her resistance was prevented by fear of immediate and great bodily harm which she had reasonable cause to believe would be inflicted upon her. The reversal was upon the law for failure to establish corroboration.
Taking up, then, the narrow point involved. While corroboration is needed as to every fact, all the facts are conceded or admitted except whether the resistance of the complainant was prevented by fear of immediate and great bodily harm, which she had reasonable cause to believe would be inflicted upon her. It is admitted that defendants had sexual intercourse with her and conceded that she was not the wife of any of them.
From the time she was taken to the ‘shack’ until about six o'clock in the morning the six defendants admittedly had intercourse with her in the...
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...v. Merritt, 64 Ill.App.3d 482, 21 Ill.Dec. 298, 381 N.E.2d 407 (1978); State v. Baldwin, 571 S.W.2d 236 (Mo.1978); People v. Yannucci, 283 N.Y. 546, 29 N.E.2d 185 (1940); Schrum v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 204, 246 S.E.2d 893 (1978); Tryon v. State, 567 P.2d 290 (Wyo.1977). The principle of th......
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People v. Linzy
...innocent men will be convicted of rape. (See Comment, Corroborating Charges of Rape, 67 Col.L.Rev. 1137, 1141; compare People v. Yannucci, 283 N.Y. 546, 29 N.E.2d 185; People v. Deitsch, 237 N.Y. 300, 142 N.E. 670; People v. Chumley, 24 A.D.2d 805, 263 N.Y.S.2d 748 (cases holding particular......
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People v. Medina
...without more and most certainly in combination, easily took the case to the jury on the question of force (see People v. Yannucci, 283 N.Y. 546, 550, 29 N.E.2d 185, 186; People v. Dow, supra, pp. 228-229, 310 N.Y.S.2d pp. 562-563; People v. Watson, 57 A.D.2d 143, 148, 393 N.Y.S.2d 735, Turn......
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People v. Vicaretti
...only for a limited degree or time because of such fear, the jury is to consider the surrounding circumstances. (People v. Yannucci, 283 N.Y. 546, 549, 29 N.E.2d 185, 186; People v. Duegaw, 34 A.D.2d 1043, 312 N.Y.S.2d 518; see People v. Johnson, 37 A.D.2d 218, 221, 322 N.Y.S.2d 796, 799.) I......