Case ID: ny-crim_17/html/0234-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Truax, J.:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Supreme Court—Special Term, New York.
    February, 1903.
    MATTER OF APPLICATION OF SOLOMON SAYLES.
    (40 Misc. 135.)
    1. Bail—Remission of Fokfeitube of—Statute of Limitations.
    There is no Statute of Limitations barring an application for remission of the forfeiture of an undertaking for bail.
    2. Sa.me—Penal Code, Secs. 597, 598.
    The giving of the certificate required by section 1482 of the Consolidation Act is not a prerequisite to the application for a remission of the forfeiture of bail. And although section 1482 was passed subsequently to sections 597 and 598 of the Penal Code, section 597 was amended in 1895, and therefore became a law subsequent to the •passage of section 1482.
    
      3. Same.
    After his escape the indicted person surrendered himself and was again admitted to bail. Sometime after the district attorney moved for dismissal of the indictment and stated in open court that there never had been any evidence justifying the indictment or trial of the indicted person, and a subsequent assistant district attorney, thoroughly familiar with the matter, makes an affidavit that the People lost no rights by reason of the absence of the prisoner during his term. Held, that motion for remission of forfeiture of bail should be granted.
    Motion for an order directing the remission of the forfeiture of the bail of Henry L. Sayles, furnished by Solomon Sayles, his surety in a certain action in the Court of General Sessions in and for the county of New York, entitled “ People of New York against Henry L. Sayles,” and that the amount paid in satisfaction of said forfeiture by said Solomon Sayles be paid and returned to him; that if necessary a reference be ordered to take proof of the facts and circumstances stated in the moving papers and for such other and further relief as may be just and proper.
    On April 13, 1886, one Henry L. Sayles was duly indicted for the crime of bribery in the Court of General Sessions of the Peace in the county of New York. Thereafter said Henry L. Sayles was held to answer by said court upon the said indictment, and the applicant herein gave a certain bail or undertaking in the sum of $25,000 for the appearance to answer of the said Henry L. Sayles upon the trial. On the failure of said Henry L. Sayles to appear the said court, on October 13, 1886, duly ordered the forfeiture of said bail. On said last-mentioned day judgment for $25,000 was entered against this applicant, and thereafter the said amount, with all costs, charges and expenses was paid by the applicant to the comptroller and chamberlain of the city of New York. Thereafter, on May 7, 1890, the said Henry L. Sayles returned to the jurisdiction of the court and voluntarily surrendered himself for trial upon the said indictment. He was again admitted to bail. The said Henry L. Sayles remained within the jurisdiction of the court until June 13, 1890, when, upon the motion of the lion. John E. Fellows, the then district attorney, upon the ground that there was not and never had been any evidence justifying the indictment or trial of said Henry L. Sayles, said indictment was duly dismissed by the Court of General Sessions. This motion is based upon the alleged facts that between the date of the forfeiture of said bail, to wit, on the 13th day of October, 1886, and his surrender on the 7th day of May, 1890, at which time this applicant gave new bail for said Henry L. Sayles, the situation with respect to the indictment and trial óf the said defendant remained the same, and that all of the witnesses against him, if any, were still within the jurisdiction of the court and available, and lie could have been tried as well at said.time and with the same likelihood of conviction, if any, as at the time said bail was forfeited.
    The contention of the district attorney and the other essential facts sufficiently appear in the opinion.
    Joseph A. Flannery for Solomon Sayles.
    William Travers Jerome, district attorney.
   Truax, J.:

If the contention of the district attorney is right a motion of this kind could not be made after a, district attorney had retired from office, for how can a district attorney, who was not in office at the time that the recognizance was forfeited, certify that the People of the State of Hew York have lost no rights by reason of the failure of a. surety to produce a principal in compliance with the terms of a recognizance given by him, and that by reason of the principal’s being produced the people of the State of Hew York are in as good a position to prosecute said principal as when said failure occurred ? A literal interpretation of the statute (sec. 1482 of chap. 410 of the Laws of 1882) would imply that the certifie ate was to be issued only by the district attorney who was in office at the time of the forfeiture of the recognizance, and would not. authorize a certificate upon information and belief. It is well settled that there is no statute of limitation barring an application of this kind (People v. Nooney, 64 Hun, 171), and yet, if the contention of the district attorney is correct, there would be a. statute of limitation which would bar the making of the application after the tenure of office of the person who was district attorney at the time the recognizance was forfeited had expired, for, I take it, that the words “the district attorney ” mean the person who was district attorney at tlie time the recognizance was forfeited, and does not mean some subsequent district attorney. Moreover, the construction given' to section 1482 by the district attorney would in effect make the district attorney the sole judge of whether a judgment entered on. a forfeited recognizance should or should not be opened, because, if he should refuse to give the. certificate required by section 1482, if the contention of the learned district attorney is correct, the court could not open the judgment. Such cannot be the law. Sections 597 and 598 of the Code of Criminal Procedure would be rendered nugatory if the contention of the district attorney is correct. Section 597 says that the Supreme Court may remit the forfeiture or any part thereof upon such terms as are just, while all that, section 598 requires is that an application for a remission of the forfeiture must be made on at least five days’ notice to the district attorney of the county. Mow if his certificate is a prerequisite why should he have notice of the application ? The district attorney also, contends that the above-mentioned sections 597 and 598 are controlled by section 1482 of the Consolidation Act, because the latter section was passed later than the former two sections. It is true that said section 1482 was passed subsequently to sections 597 and 598, but section 597 was amended in 1895 (which was subsequent to the passage of said section 1482 of the Consolidation Act), so that it reads as it now reads, and therefore became a. law subsequent to the passage of said section 1482 of the Consolidation Act. (Goillotel v. Mayor, 87 N. Y. 441.)

It now remains to he considered whether the people lost any rights by the escape of the indicted person. The papers show that some time after his escape the indicted person returned to this county and surrendered himself and was again admitted to hail; that some time after such surrender and admission to hail John 17. Fellows, who was then district attorney, moved for the dismissal of the indictment, and then, stated, in open court that there was not and never had been any evidence justifying the indictment or trial of said indicted person, and Mr. Delaney Xicoll, who was, in the years 1886, 1887 and 1888, an assistant district attorney, and who was thoroughly familiar with the matters out of which this indictment grew, makes an affidavit, which is used on this motion, that the People lost no rights during his said term of office by reason of the absence from this jurisdiction of the said indicted person. He further certifies that he verily believes that the People lost no rights prior to the surrender of the indicted person, which -took place on the 7th day of May, 1890.

Motion granted.