People v. Lyons — 51 N.Y.S. 811

Majority

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PEOPLE v. LYONS.

(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department.

May 7, 1898.)

Headnote

1. Burglary—Evidence.

On the trial of an indictment for burglary and larceny, the evidence showed that two men hired a livery rig on the night of the burglary, and that a third man was with them, standing at & distance. There were tracks of three men in the snow at the place where the burglary was committed, and the team was found, with the stolen chickens, and some turkeys taken from another place, in the sleigh. The defendant appeared, claimed the stolen property, and attempted to sell it. There were feathers on his coat, when-arrested, and other incriminating circumstances. Held, that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction.

3. Criminal Law—Appeal—Certificate of Reasonable Doubt.

Act May 14, 1897, amending section 529 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, provides that if an appeal to the appellate division of the supreme court shall not be brought on for argument by the defendant at the next term thereof, begun not less than 10 days after the granting of a certificate of reasonable doubt, such certificate may be vacated by the judge granting the same, or by any judge of the court in which the appeal is pending, upon the application of the district attorney. Held, that this statute applied to criminal actions in existence at the time it took effect, and, since it affected a matter of procedure, merely, was not an ex post facto law.

Appeal from Monroe county court.

James Lyons appeals from a judgment of conviction rendered upon a trial for burglary and larceny, and from an order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial. The judgment was entered on the 19th of November, 1896, and the order was made on the 26th day of December, 1896. He also appeals from the order of the special county judge-made on the 17th day of February, 1898, vacating a certificate of reasonable doubt made by such judge on the 26th day of December, 1896.

Affirmed.

Argued before HARDIN, P. J., and FOLLETT, ADAMS, GREEN, and WARD, JJ.

Louis H. Jack, for appellant.

S. J. Warren, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the People.

On the 2-6th of March, 1896, the appellant, James-Lyons, was indicted by the grand jury of Monroe county for the crime of burglary in the third degree, and for petit larceny, in that heburglariously entered the hen house of Belle Peck, with intent to steal, and stole chickens therein of the value of $15, the property of one

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Frederick Sackett. He was tried and convicted of this offense, and sentenced to be imprisoned in the state’s prison at Auburn for the term of three years. After such conviction the special county judge of Monroe county, who presided at the trial, granted a certificate of. reasonable doubt whether the conviction should stand, and which certificate the judge granting it vacated on the 17th day of February, 1898. The. counsel for the appellant, at the close of the people’s case, and also at the close of the evidence, moved that the appellant be discharged, on the ground that the crime charged in the indictment had not been proved. The court denied both of these motions, to which the appellant’s counsel excepted. The same question was raised upon the motion for a new trial. There was abundant evidence upon the trial to sustain the jury in convicting the defendant. On the night of the burglary, March 25, 1896, two men (Stephen Sheldon and William Terrill), about 9 o’clock in the evening, applied to á liveryman in the city of Rochester for two horses and a light pair of bob sleighs. There was a third man with them, standing at a distance. The tracks •of three men were found in the snow at the place of the burglary. Early the next morning, the 26th, between 6 and 7 o’clock, the team was found upon the floor of the liveryman’s barn; and the stolen ■chickens, and some stolen turkeys taken from another place, were found in the sleigh. In the office of the livery stable these two men, Sheldon and Terrill, were found asleep. The defendant soon appeared upon the scene, claimed the stolen property, and procured a ■cartman to take the chickens and turkeys to one Lippmans, a butcher, who conducted a meat market on North Clinton street, Rochester. The defendant went to the market, and proposed to sell the poultry to Lippmans, who became suspicious that the property was stolen, and telephoned the police. The cartman wanted pay for carting the poultry to Lippmans. Lippmans refused to pay, but the defendant .agreed to pay, and went out to borrow the money for that purpose, but did not return. He was afterwards arrested, and charged with this offense, and made false statements to the police as to his being at the butcher’s and on North Clinton street, and feathers were found upon his coat. Other circumstances of a suspicious nature were ■established against him upon the trial by the prosecution. The defendant’s evidence did not exonerate him from this charge,—at least., it was for the jury to say; and we should not interfere with this conviction, upon its merits.

The appeal from the order vacating the' certificate of reasonable doubt remains to be considered. The contention of the learned counsel for the appellant is that, when the certificate of reasonable doubt was granted, no provision in the statutes existed for its being vacated .and set aside, and the order vacating it was without authority. The granting of certificates of reasonable doubt upon conviction in criminal cases has become by far too common. The result has been, in many •cases, to create unreasonable delay, and to impede the course of justice. Defendants who have obtained the stay in such cases have often been tardy with their appeals, and the people have found many obstacles thrown in their way in bringing the cases before the appellate courts. To remedy this difficulty the legislature made an amendment

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to section 529 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which took effect May 14, 1897, which was as follows:

“If an appeal to the appellate division of the supreme court shall not be brought on for argument by the defendant at the next term of the appellate 'division begun not less than ten days after the granting of such certificate [the certificate of reasonable doubt], or if an appeal to the court of appeals shall not be brought on for argument by the defendant when the court of appeals shall have been in actual session for fifteen days after the granting of such certificate, the district attorney on two days’ notice to the defendant may apply to the judge or justice who granted the certificate or to any judge or justice of the court in which the appeal is pending for an order vacating the certificate, and_ upon the entry of such an order, the judgment shall be executed as though a certificate had never been granted to the defendant.”

Construing this amendment in the light of the purpose and the necessity of its enactment, we are of the opinion that the amendment ap* plies to criminal actions in existence when the amendment took effect, —at least, to such proceedings in said actions as occurred after that amendment. In this case several terms of the appellate court at which the case could have been brought on for argument occurred after the 14th of May, 1897, and before the application to vacate the certificate, in February, 1898. The failure of the defendant to bring the case on for argument during this period gave the judge granting the certificate jurisdiction to revoke it. The legislature had authorized this judge to grant the certificate. It could withdraw or limit that authority. The granting of the certificate was a matter of procedure in the action. The amendment affected that procedure and was in no sense an ex post facto law. As we have said the amendment applied to existing action. Stokes v. People, 53 N. Y. 173 , 174; People v. Turner, 117 N. Y. 233 , 22 N. E. 1022 . This view does not trench upon the rule relied upon by the defendant’s counsel, that the statute should have prospective operation unless its terms show that the legislature intended that it should operate retrospectively. We do not give it a retrospective effect. We apply to the amendment the conditions arising after it became a law. The defendant was in default after that period, for not bringing his case on for argument, which it was his duty to do.

The judgment of conviction, and the order refusing a new trial, should be affirmed, and a proper judgment remitting the case be awarded; and the order vacating the certificate of reasonable doubt should also be affirmed. All concur.