NY State Senate Bill 2015-S4082

Senate Bill S4082

2015-2016 Legislative Session

Expands scope of criminal mischief to include cases wherein a person intentionally damages property of another with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 26, 2015	referred to codes

2015-S4082 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Codes
Law Section:: Penal Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§145.00, 145.05 & 145.10, Pen L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: S124
2011-2012: S1666
2013-2014: S654

2015-S4082 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Expands scope of criminal mischief to include cases wherein a person intentionally damages property of another with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm; permits offenders to be prosecuted notwithstanding their own partial interest in the property; includes second through fourth degrees of criminal mischief within the scope of "family offenses."

2015-S4082 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S4082

TITLE OF BILL:

An  act  to  amend  the  penal  law, in relation to criminal mischief in
certain cases

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

Expands the scope of the crime of criminal  mischief  to  include  cases
wherein  a  person  intentionally  damages  property of another with the
intent to harass, annoy, or alarm, in order to address cases of domestic
violence that include property damage.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends the Penal Law sections 145.00, 145.05,  and
145.10,  to add an element to each count of criminal mischief to cover a
situation where a person, with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another
person, intentionally damages property in which the other person  has  a
possessory  or  proprietary interest, which property may include marital
property.

Section 2 of the bill amends the Criminal Procedure Law to add  criminal
mischief to the list of family offenses.

Section  3  of  the  bill  amends  the  Family Court Act to add criminal
mischief to the list of family offenses.

JUSTIFICATION:

This law corrects the holding in PEOPLE v. PERSON  658  NYS2d  372  (2nd
Dep't  1997)  that  a  husband can not be charged with criminal mischief
when he destroys the personal property of his estranged wife because the
property was marital property in which the  husband  had  a  proprietary
interest  In  that case, Mr Person forcibly entered Ms.  Person's dwell-
ing, assaulted her, and destroyed her clothing, toiletries, the contents
of her handbag, and various items  of  household  furnishings.  Although
convicted  of criminal mischief in the fourth degree at the trial level,
the Appellate Division reversed, holding that "because the defendant had
an equitable interest in the items  he  was  charged  with  damaging  or
stealing...  he  could not be charged with these crimes" The PERSON case
misapplies the Domestic Relations Law, which  defines  marital  property
for  purposes  of  equitable  distribution, to a domestic violence crime
under the Penal Law. As  the  New  York  State  Commission  on  Domestic
Violence  Fatalities  stated  in  its  1997 report to the Governor: "The
court in PERSON appears to have equated marital property for purposes of
distribution between the parties upon divorce, with  household  property
in  which  a  spouse has at least a proprietary interest The explanatory
comment published with the Criminal Mischief sections of the  Penal  Law
states:  'Property is that of another person...if anyone, other than the
defendant, has a possessory or proprietary  interest  in  such  tangible

property."  The  Commission  recommended legislation to clarify that the
criminal mischief sections of the Penal  Law  do  apply  when  a  person
destroys  marital or jointly owned property, committing a form of domes-
tic  violence.  Aggressors  in  domestic  disputes often commit domestic
violence by destroying or damaging property of  their  victim  with  the
intent  to  harass,  annoy, or alarm. This type of behavior is a form of
domestic violence which the PERSON case in effect  sanctions.  The  case
directly  contradicts the strong public policy in this State of protect-
ing the victims of domestic violence. The bill implements this policy by
amending each count of criminal mischief to include  sanctions  where  a
person  has  a  possessory  or  proprietary  interest with the intent to
annoy, harass or alarm that other person. Lastly, the bill includes  the
crime  of  criminal mischief in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th degree in the list
of crimes that can constitute a family offense under the Criminal Proce-
dure Law and the Family Court Act so that victims of this form of domes-
tic violence have the option of going to Family Court for  an  order  of
protection when a person commits domestic violence by destroying proper-
ty.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.7612 of 2008
04/17/08 Referred to Codes
S.1666 of 2011
01/11/11 REFERRED TO CODES
01/04/12 REFERRED TO CODES
01/09/13 REFERRED TO CODES
01/08/14 REFERRED TO CODES

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This  act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become law.

2015-S4082 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  4082

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 26, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen. SAMPSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes

AN ACT to amend the penal law,  in  relation  to  criminal  mischief  in
  certain cases

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Sections 145.00, 145.05,  and  145.10  of  the  penal  law,
section  145.00  as  amended  by chapter 69 of the laws of 2008, section
145.05 as amended by chapter 276 of the laws of 2003 and section  145.10
as  amended  by  chapter 961 of the laws of 1971, are amended to read as
follows:
S 145.00 Criminal mischief in the fourth degree.
  A person is guilty of criminal mischief in the  fourth  degree  [when,
having]:
  1.  HAVING no right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that
he or she has such right, he or she:
  [1.] (A) Intentionally damages property of another person; or
  [2.] (B) Intentionally participates in the destruction of an abandoned
building as defined in section one thousand nine  hundred  seventy-one-a
of the real property actions and proceedings law; or
  [3.]  (C)  Recklessly  damages property of another person in an amount
exceeding two hundred fifty dollars; or
  [4.] (D) With intent to prevent a person from communicating a  request
for  emergency assistance, intentionally disables or removes telephonic,
TTY or similar communication sending equipment while that person:  [(a)]
(I)  is attempting to seek or is engaged in the process of seeking emer-
gency assistance from police, law enforcement, fire or emergency medical
services personnel; or [(b)] (II) is attempting to seek or is engaged in
the process of seeking emergency assistance from another person or enti-
ty in order to protect himself, herself or a third person from  imminent
physical  injury.  The fact that the defendant has an ownership interest

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD09156-01-5

S. 4082                             2

in such equipment shall not be a defense to a charge  pursuant  to  this
subdivision[.]; OR
  2.  HAVING  NO RIGHT TO DO SO AND WITH THE INTENT TO HARASS, ANNOY, OR
ALARM ANOTHER PERSON, HE OR SHE INTENTIONALLY DAMAGES MARITAL  PROPERTY,
AS  DEFINED  IN  PARAGRAPH C OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF PART B OF SECTION TWO
HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX OF THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW, IN  WHICH  THAT  OTHER
PERSON AND THE ACTOR SHARE A POSSESSORY OR PROPRIETARY INTEREST.
  Criminal mischief in the fourth degree is a class A misdemeanor.
S 145.05 Criminal mischief in the third degree.
  A person is guilty of criminal mischief in the third degree when, with
intent  to  damage property of another person, and having no right to do
so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he or she has  such  right,
he or she:
  1.  damages the motor vehicle of another person, by breaking into such
vehicle when it is locked with the  intent  of  stealing  property,  and
within  the  previous  ten year period, has been convicted three or more
times, in separate criminal transactions for which sentence was  imposed
on  separate  occasions,  of  criminal  mischief in the fourth degree as
defined in section 145.00, criminal mischief  in  the  third  degree  as
defined  in  this  section,  criminal  mischief  in the second degree as
defined in section 145.10, or criminal mischief in the first  degree  as
defined in section 145.12 of this article; [or]
  2.  damages  property  of  another  person  in an amount exceeding two
hundred fifty dollars[.]; OR
  3. WITH THE INTENT TO HARASS, ANNOY, OR ALARM  ANOTHER  PERSON  INTEN-
TIONALLY DAMAGES MARITAL PROPERTY, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH C OF SUBDIVI-
SION  ONE  OF  PART  B OF SECTION TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX OF THE DOMESTIC
RELATIONS LAW, IN AN AMOUNT EXCEEDING  TWO  HUNDRED  FIFTY  DOLLARS,  IN
WHICH  THAT OTHER PERSON AND THE ACTOR SHARE A POSSESSORY OR PROPRIETARY
INTEREST.
  Criminal mischief in the third degree is a class E felony.
S 145.10 Criminal mischief in the second degree.
  A person is guilty of criminal mischief  in  the  second  degree  when
[with]:
  1.  WITH  intent  to  damage property of another person, and having no
right to do so nor any reasonable ground to believe that he OR  SHE  has
such  right,  he  OR SHE damages property of another person in an amount
exceeding one thousand five hundred dollars[.]; OR
  2. HAVING NO RIGHT TO DO SO AND WITH THE INTENT TO HARASS,  ANNOY,  OR
ALARM  ANOTHER PERSON, HE OR SHE INTENTIONALLY DAMAGES MARITAL PROPERTY,
AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH C OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF PART B  OF  SECTION  TWO
HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX OF THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW, IN AN AMOUNT EXCEEDING
ONE  THOUSAND  FIVE  HUNDRED DOLLARS, IN WHICH THAT OTHER PERSON AND THE
ACTOR SHARE A POSSESSORY OR PROPRIETARY INTEREST.
  Criminal mischief in the second degree is a class D felony.
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

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