Matter of Doyen In 1987, Charles Doyen was convicted in County Court of sodomy and kidnapping. In 1998, Doyen requested 13 categories of documents from the New York State Police pertaining to his investigation and arrest. Supreme Court dismissed the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. No such public officer or employee shall disclose any portion of any police report, court file, or other document, which tends to identify such a victim except as provided in subdivision two of this section. In each of these cases, the Appellate Division agreed, stating that the petitioners were similarly situated to a person charged with a crime and seeking documents to mount a defense.
Statutory interpretation requires that words be given their natural and obvious meaning.
A person charged with a crime is distinctly different from one who has already been convicted. A person charged with a crime, unlike a convicted person, enjoys a presumption of innocence, the right to counsel, the right to a jury trial and, significantly in the present context, the right to confront one's accuser. Nor does the legislative history support petitioners' interpretation of the statute. The memorandum does not address the statute's application in a post-conviction setting. Nor does the fact that petitioners already know the identity of their victims provide a basis for disclosure.