Opinion ID: 286226
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Petitioner Herrington

Text: 17 The indictment against petitioner Herrington charged him with murder for the shooting of his mother-in-law and attempted murder for the shooting of his wife; both shootings occurred virtually simultaneously. Petitioner admits that the murder count, which resulted in a conviction of first degree manslaughter, was not subject to the jurisdiction of the Family Court. Brief for Petitioners, at 14. Homicide is not included within the indicated meaning of assault in § 812. Furthermore, there is considerable doubt that the mother-in-law, who did not reside with petitioner or his wife, would fall within the statutory coverage of members of the same family or household. See People v. Williams, 24 N.Y.2d 274, 281, 300 N.Y.S.2d 89, 94, 248 N.E.2d 8 (1969); but cf. People v. Keller, 37 Misc.2d 122, 234 N.Y.S.2d 469 (Dist. Ct.1962). 18 Petitioner does contend that the attempted murder charge, which resulted in a conviction of second degree assault, was within the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Family Court under § 812. For this reason he claims that his conviction of assault is void and, further, that the joint trial of this count with the murder count so prejudiced his defense of the latter charge that reversal of his manslaughter conviction is required as well. Cf. Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968); People v. Williams, 24 N.Y.2d 274, 287, 300 N.Y.S.2d 89, 99, 248 N.E.2d 8 (1969). We find, however, that the jurisdiction of the Family Court over an attempted murder charge, under the circumstances of Herrington's closely related murder charge, has not been establishd by New York law. 19 It is settled that the Family Court's jurisdictional grant under § 812 extends to any assault, felonious as well as petty. People v. Johnson, 20 N.Y.2d 220, 223, 282 N.Y.S.2d 481, 484, 229 N.E.2d 180, 182 (1967). The Court of Appeals in Johnson noted that where a Family Court judge abuses his discretion by retaining jurisdiction over truly criminal conduct the state has a remedy by way of appeal to obtain a transfer of such a case to a criminal court. 20 But Johnson does not finally settle whether a charge of attempted murder would be categorized as a felonious assault for the purposes of § 812. Since murder itself is not within the assault clause of § 812, might not an attempt to commit this crime also be excluded? This was the conclusion of the only New York judge to date who has expressed an opinion on the merits of petitioner's contention, Monroe County Judge Harry Rosenthal, who dismissed his application for a writ of error coram nobis with this statement: 21 Section 812    does not encompass crimes of killing, or attempting to kill by the members of the same family household where the element of premeditation and deliberation is an integral and necessary element of the charge. Unpublished decision filed June 2, 1967. 22 Any doubt concerning the continued validity of Judge Rosenthal's holding in light of the later Johnson opinion should be resolved by the New York courts, and not by this Court. One lower court, we note, apparently has reached a result at odds with Judge Rosenthal's holding. See Montalvo v. Montalvo, 55 Misc.2d 699, 286 N.Y.S.2d 605 (Fam.Ct.1968); but cf. People v. Williams, 24 N.Y.2d 274, 286, 300 N.Y.S.2d 89, 98, 248 N.E.2d 8, 14 (1969) (if an assault, when combined with additional conduct, establish[es] a different crime, that crime is not necessarily also within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Family Court). 23 There is another ground which sustains the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court which tried petitioner Herrington. Even if we assume that the attempted murder charge, standing alone, would have constituted an assault within § 812, here it was joined to a charge of murder which arose out of the same chain of events. Certainly it would not be irrational for the New York courts to hold that once a homicide has been committed, any family offense arising out of the same sequence of events is subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for trial together with the homicide charge. This form of joinder of charges for two or more acts or transactions    constituting parts of a common scheme or plan, or    constituting crimes of the same or a similar character, is authorized under New York law, N.Y. Code Crim.Pro. § 279 (McKinney 1958), and thus far no court has ruled that § 812 bars use of this procedure, even though the lesser crime is a family offense. 24 The case of People v. Williams, 24 N.Y.2d 274, 300 N.Y.S.2d 89, 97, 248 N.E.2d 8 (1969), indicates only that it is improper for a criminal court to retain jurisdiction over charges which depend for their criminality on the commission of an offense — in Williams an assault — which is clearly within the jurisdiction of the Family Court. In Williams the assault was the principal crime, with the remaining charges constituting no more than preliminary acts leading up to the assault. In Herrington's case, however, the assault was committed in conjunction with a homicide, which is clearly not within the Family Court's jurisdiction, and which transcends and colors the criminality of the assault charge. Just as in Williams jurisdiction over the principal assault count carried with it jurisdiction over the dependent lesser charges, so here the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over the homicide charge may have carried with it jurisdiction over the closely related assault charge. 25 Since petitioner Herrington has not established that under New York law, as it now stands, the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction over his case, we do not reach his due process claim on the merits.