The People v. Frankie Hatton
The People v. Frankie Hatton
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT
The People appeal from an order of the Appellate Term reversing defendant Frankie Hatton’s conviction of one count of forcible touching, and dismissing the accusatory instrument as jurisdictionally defective. We conclude the instrument sets forth sufficient factual allegations to establish the elements of the offense, and therefore reverse the order of the Appellate Term and reinstate defendant’s conviction.
Defendant was originally arraigned on three accusatory instruments, each charging him with two counts of forcible touching (Penal Law § 130.52), sexual abuse in the third degree (Penal Law § 130.55) and harassment in the second degree (Penal Law § 240.26 [1]). The separate instruments contained almost identical factual allegations that defendant smacked the buttocks of two different women, for a total of six complainants, over the course of three weeks. The instruments differed only in the date, time and location of the incidents and the respective complainant’s name. The People subsequently filed supporting depositions, and, upon motion, Criminal Court consolidated the three accusatory instruments.
“The deponent [police detective] is informed by [the complainant] that, [on June 30, 2009 at about 10:40 p.m. at the corner of Albany Avenue and Montgomery Street, County of Kings, State of New York], a male approached the [complainant] and smacked [her] about the buttocks.
“The deponent is further informed by the [complainant] that the above described actions caused [the complainant] to become alarmed and annoyed.
“The deponent is further informed by [an] eyewitness . . . that at the . . . above time and place, the [eyewitness] observed the defendant approach [the complainant] and the defendant smacked the buttocks of [the complainant].
“The deponent is further informed by the defendant’s own statement that the defendant smacked the buttocks of [the complainant].”
Criminal Court sentenced defendant to a one-year jail sentence, which he has since then completed.
On appeal, the Appellate Term reversed the conviction and dismissed the accusatory instrument based on factual insufficiency grounds (42 Misc 3d 141 [A], 2014 NY Slip Op 50213[U] [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2014]). A Judge of this Court granted leave to appeal (23 NY3d 1063 [2014]).
As an initial matter, we consider the People’s contention that defendant impliedly waived his right to be prosecuted by information. Whether a defendant has waived a procedural right is a factual question which this Court may review only to determine if the record provides any support for the determination of a lower court (People v Brown, 90 NY2d 872, 874 [1997]; People v Ferguson, 67 NY2d 383, 389 [1986]).
The parties agree that on the day of his arraignment, defendant’s counsel appeared on behalf of someone else, on a matter unrelated to defendant’s case. Outside of defendant’s presence, she then responded ‘Yes” in open court to the court officer’s question, “Counsel, do you waive the reading of the rights and charges, but not the rights thereunder for this case and all other cases before the court?” Several months later, de
In People v Connor (63 NY2d 11 [1984]) this Court stated that a waiver of the mandated reading of the right does not “by itself constitute a waiver of the procedural right to be tried on information” (id. at 14 n; People v Fernandez, 20 NY3d 44, 55 n 1 [2012]). However, “waiver and consent may be implied if the circumstances . . . compel the conclusion that the defendant, competently represented by counsel, acquiesced in the prosecution of the charge against him on the misdemeanor complaint” (Connor, 63 NY2d at 14). In People v Weinberg (34 NY2d 429, 431 [1974]), the Court made clear that waiver of this right must be knowing and intelligent.
Here, defendant’s counsel stated in open court that she waived only the reading of the rights, but not “the rights thereunder.” Therefore, under Connor, her statement cannot serve as a waiver of defendant’s procedural right to be tried on information (Connor, 63 NY2d at 14 n). More to the point, counsel’s statement specifically preserved his right to prosecution by information. Regardless, unlike the defendant in Con-nor, nothing in the record indicates that in the wake of counsel’s statement defendant acted affirmatively to waive his right, or that he “acquiesced in the prosecution of the charge against him on [a] misdemeanor complaint” (id. at 14 [determining that defendant had acquiesced where defense counsel waived the reading of the right and defendant then made pretrial motions and proceeded to trial]).
Additionally, several days after arraignment the People filed two superseding instruments, six supporting depositions (one from each of the complainants) and a deposition by an eyewitness to the incident defendant eventually pleaded guilty to. Criminal Court recorded these filings as supporting depositions and superseding informations. By all appearances, defendant was, in fact, prosecuted by information. Under these circumstances, record support exists for the Appellate Term’s conclusion that defendant did not impliedly waive his right to prosecution by information.
As a consequence, we assess the sufficiency of the accusatory instrument based on the standard applicable to an informa
The People claim that the accusatory instrument is facially sufficient because the factual allegations and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from them establish all the elements of the offense of forcible touching. Under Penal Law § 130.52, “[a] person is guilty of forcible touching when such person intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, forcibly touches the sexual or other intimate parts of another person for the purpose of degrading or abusing such person, or for the purpose of gratifying the actor’s sexual desire.” Furthermore, Penal Law § 130.05 requires that the act be committed without the victim’s consent, meaning that “the victim does not expressly or impliedly acquiesce in the actor’s conduct” (Penal Law § 130.05 [2] [c]; see also § 130.05 [1]).
Here, the factual allegations easily satisfy the facial sufficiency standard for the actus reus elements of the offense. As this Court held in People v Guaman (22 NY3d 678, 684 [2014]), “when done with the relevant mens rea, any bodily contact involving the application of some level of pressure to the victim’s sexual or intimate parts qualifies as a forcible touch within the meaning of Penal Law § 130.52.” Thus, the information’s assertion that defendant “smacked the buttocks” of the complainant, more than adequately alleges that defendant applied the statutorily required pressure to effectuate contact with a part of complainant’s body commonly accepted within society as sexual or intimate in nature (see id. at 684; People v Darryl M., 123 Misc 2d 723, 735 [Crim Ct, NY County 1984] [“the buttocks is an intimate part of the body within the meaning of subdivision 3 of section 130.00 of the Penal Law”]).
Whether the instrument contains sufficient factual allegations of the purpose elements is a more difficult question. As a general matter, “intent is rarely proved by an explicit expression of culpability by the perpetrator” (People v Bueno, 18 NY3d 160, 169 [2011] [internal quotation marks omitted]). In recognition of the inherent challenges to demonstrating an actor’s mental state, this Court has accepted that “[i]ntent may be inferred from conduct as well as the surrounding circumstances” (People v Steinberg, 79 NY2d 673, 682 [1992]). Accordingly, in the context of assessing the sufficiency of an accusatory instrument, we have made clear that “intent may be inferred ‘from the act itself’ (People v Bracey, 41 NY2d 296, 301 [1977])” (Dumay, 23 NY3d at 525).
Giving “a fair and not overly restrictive or technical reading” to the instrument (Casey, 95 NY2d at 360), and considering the acts and circumstances described therein (Dumay, 23 NY3d at 525), we conclude that the information provides sufficient factual allegations leading to an inference that defendant forcibly touched the complainant “for no legitimate purpose” and “for the purpose of degrading” the complainant (Penal Law § 130.52).
Defendant’s argument that a person may smack another on the buttocks for a legitimate purpose, such as in self-defense or in defense of another, does not persuade us that the information here is jurisdictionally deficient. The facts as alleged in no way imply that defendant was acting defensively in response to actions by the complainant. To the contrary, as we have explained, the information alleges that the defendant approached the complainant and it was he who alarmed her by slapping an intimate part of her body. We thus agree with the People that the factual allegations here are inconsistent with circumstances in which smacking another person would not constitute forcible touching.
We caution that our decision in this case should not be broadly interpreted as a per se rule that the mere assertion
For the reasons we have stated, here the factual portions of the information “provide reasonable cause to believe that the defendant committed the offense charged” (CPL 100.40 [1] [b]), and those factual allegations are of the kind that “give an accused notice sufficient to prepare a defense and are adequately detailed to prevent a defendant from being tried twice for the same offense” (Casey, 95 NY2d at 360 [citations omitted]).
Accordingly, the order of the Appellate Term should be reversed, and the judgment of Criminal Court of the City of New York reinstated.
. Given that section 130.52 sets forth the purpose elements in the disjunctive, we need not determine whether the instrument is factually sufficient to establish an inference that the act was done “for the purpose of gratifying [defendant’s] sexual desire” because we conclude that the instrument contains sufficient factual allegations to establish the alternative purpose that defendant’s actions were done in order to “degrad [e] or abus[e]” the complainant.
. The dissent urges the speculative inference that at the time of the incident the complainant was a minor, and that defendant acted for the legitimate purpose of disciplining her in his role as the complainant’s parent, guardian or custodian (dissenting op at 373). However, in assessing the sufficiency of an instrument the role of the court is not to base its decision on unfounded speculations, but to consider only those proper inferences to be drawn from the factual allegations contained in the information. Here, where the allegations state that defendant approached the complainant late at night on a public street and smacked her buttocks, causing her to be alarmed and annoyed, it is implausible to infer that defendant was acting as a disciplinarian and in response to an unruly minor. Not even the defendant goes so far as to suggest this inference. To the contrary, defendant describes the information as charging him with touching a woman.
Furthermore, although our dissenting colleague acknowledges “that an information need not negate all possible defenses” (dissenting op at 372, citing Casey, 95 NY2d at 360), the approach advocated by the dissent would require nothing less than assertions responsive to every interpretation of facts favorable to the defendant. As this Court’s prior decisions make abundantly clear, the law does not impose such an onerous burden on the People and we see no reason to change course based on the instant appeal (Casey, 95 NY2d at 360; Guaman, 22 NY3d at 681-682).
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). To be legally sufficient, the factual part of the information must establish reasonable cause to believe that defendant committed the charged offense (see CPL 100.40 [1] [b]), and contain “nonhearsay allegations which, if true, establish every element of the offense charged and the defendant’s commission thereof” (People v Kalin, 12 NY3d 225, 228-229 [2009] [emphasis added, internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; see People v Dumay, 23 NY3d 518, 522 [2014]; People v Alejandro, 70 NY2d 133, 135-136 [1987]). As relevant here, the information factually alleged that, at about 10:40 p.m. at the corner of specified streets, defendant “approached the [complainant] and smacked the [complainant] about the buttocks,” which she described as causing her “to become alarmed and annoyed.” Because I cannot agree with the majority’s conclusion that the information contains sufficient allegations concerning the element of the offense of forcible touching that defendant committed the act “for no legitimate purpose” (Penal Law § 130.52), I dissent.
While I recognize that an information need not negate all possible defenses (see People v Casey, 95 NY2d 354, 360 [2000]), the lack of a legitimate purpose does not merely pertain to a
Nor does the fact that the information charges defendant with another similar count against a different victim on a separate occasion support the element of lack of a legitimate purpose. Without any details about what occurred prior to the other incident, the relationship of defendant to that complainant, or their respective ages, we would have to engage in the same speculation as to whether defendant lacked a legitimate purpose with regard to his acts toward the other complainant, as well. Repetitions of the same or similar insufficient allegations do not render them sufficient. Likewise, we may not consider the other informations — alleging additional, similar
Inasmuch as the allegations in the one pertinent information fail to establish “every element of the offense charged and the defendant’s commission thereof” (CPL 100.40 [1] [c]), the information did not adequately charge defendant with forcible touching, rendering it jurisdictionally defective (see People v Jackson, 18 NY3d 738, 741 [2012]). Because the Appellate Term reached this same conclusion, I find no error in its decision to reverse defendant’s conviction and dismiss the accusatory instrument and would, therefore, affirm.
Order reversed and judgment of Criminal Court of the City of New York, Kings County, reinstated.
. Contrary to the majority’s assertion, it is not this writer’s intent to urge any particular inference, but merely to highlight the inadequacy of the information’s factual allegations.
. Similarly, despite the majority’s reference to facts known by defendant about the complainant (see majority op at 371 n 2), in ascertaining the sufficiency of the accusatory instrument, it is not appropriate for the Court to consider facts within defendant’s personal knowledge, which are not set forth in the instrument itself.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The People of the State of New York, Appellant, v. Frankie Hatton, Respondent
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- 329 cases
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- Published