McDermott v. Justices of Supreme Court
McDermott v. Justices of Supreme Court
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
IN CONSIDERATION WHEREOF, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the order of the district court be and it hereby is AFFIRMED.
Petitioner John McDermott appeals the dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus
Viewing the evidence in the fight most favorable to the government, see Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), a rational juror could have found that the arresting officer had probable cause to conclude that petitioner was either intentionally or recklessly creating a risk of “public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm.” N.Y. Penal Law § 240.20. Although there was no evidence at trial indicating whether passersby observed petitioner’s conduct, the police had probable cause to assume a public presence, as the trial testimony established that the event occurred on a public street in New York City and that three persons had been present a few minutes earlier. Petitioner’s disruptive conduct in midtown Manhattan was significantly different from the setting in People v. Munafo, 50 N.Y.2d 326, 331, 428 N.Y.S.2d 924, 406 N.E.2d 780 (1980), where the disruption occurred on a “secluded stretch” of private farmland “far removed from any public thoroughfare or business or residential area.”
Further, New York courts have found probable cause to exist in arrests for disorderly conduct even in the absence of a specific showing of a crowd gathering. See, e.g., People v. Early, 85 A.D.2d 752, 445 N.Y.S.2d 252, 254 (3d Dept. 1981) (finding probable cause to exist for a disorderly conduct arrest when the defendant yelled and fought in the hallway of a four-unit apartment building at 2:30 in the morning, despite the lack of a public gathering).
Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- John McDERMOTT v. JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT, STATE OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK COUNTY Budd G. Goodman, Honorable J.S.C. Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General, State of New York
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published