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[T] People v. Ventura5/6/2004
Journal at 25, col. 5, where Freeport Village Justice Cacciatore dismissed violations of the Village Code finding that local laws were unconstitutionally infirm because they preconditioned a license on warrantless inspections under the coercive threat of criminal prosecution. In Paschow v. Town of Babylon, 53 N.Y.2d 687 (1981), our New York Court of Appeals determined that the issuance of a rental permit could not be conditioned on a warrantless search.
Over-breadth of the Warrant
A question presented is if this Court was authorized to issue a search warrant, was the warrant nonetheless constitutionally deficient for not "particularly describing the place to be searched." New York State Constitution Art. I § 12; United States Constitution, 4th Amendment and C.P.L. § 690.15(1)(a). The warrant in this case provided for a search of the entire premises, the only limitation being that the scope of the search included photographic and videographic recording of the premises. In People v. Rainey, 14 N.Y.2d 35, 248 N.Y.S.2d 33 (1964), the New York Court of Appeals held that a warrant authorizing the search of a multi-unit apartment building was unconstitutionally deficient in that it did not particularly describe the place to be searched. Essentially the police requested a warrant to search the entire premises located at 529 Monroe Street in the City of Buffalo. Probable cause for the warrant was only established as to one of the residents in the building. The Court issued the warrant. However, 529 Monroe Street consisted of two separate residential apartments, the front apartment being occupied by the defendant and the rear apartment was occupied by an innocent third person. The Court held that under the circumstances such a warrant is void on its face as it did not establish the requisite probable cause to search the entire area described in the warrant. Thus, this Court cannot parse through the "return" and sever parts of the search, declaring some evidence to be legally seized and other evidence not so.
Part of what this Court must do is to determine whether the State Legislature contemplated in their legislative history giving local criminal courts, in particular, the Village Courts of Nassau County, the authority to issue search warrants. While we are a local criminal court, our powers have been substantially denuded by the Legislature and transferred to the District Court. C.P.L. § 690.20(2) does fill in this statutory lacuna suggesting that the Legislature did authorize the signing of search warrants statewide by Village Courts without making any particular reference to Nassau County and the unusual circumstances that exist here by the transference of all of our powers over misdemeanors to the District Court. C.P.L. § 690.20(2) provides:
"A search warrant issued by a city court, a town court or a village court may be executed pursuant to its terms only in the county of issuance or an adjoining county."
Notwithstanding the aforementioned statutory language which the Third Department concurred in People v. Fishman, 48 A.D.2d 726, 367 N.Y.S.2d 608 (3rd Dept. 1975), aff'd. 40 N.Y.2d 858, 387 N.Y.S.2d 1003, 356 N.E.2d 475 (1976), allowing the execution of a warrant issued by a Police Justice of the City of Albany outside the City limits in the Town of Colonie, the New York Court of Appeals has determined that a Town Justice lacked authority to issue a search warrant because there was no proof that the alleged criminal act occurred within the geographic jurisdiction of the Justice Court. See People v. Hickey, 40 N.Y.2d 761, 390 N.Y.S.2d 42, 358 N.E.2d 868 (1976).
If this search warrant application was predicated upon information from confidential i
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