People v Mignone
Annotate this CaseDecided on June 14, 2016
Justice Court of the Village of Tuckahoe, Westchester County
The People of the State of New York
against
Francesco Mignone, Defendant.
15030142
Grant O'Donnell, ADA for Plaintiff; Brian J. Sullivan, Esq. for Defendant.
David Otis Fuller Jr., J.
The defendant was arraigned on a felony complaint for Criminal Contempt in the First Degree (PL§ 215.51) on March 24, 2015, for allegedly violating an order of protection of this court, dated August 10, 2014. On August 4, 2015, the defendant was arraigned on another felony complaint for the same charge, Criminal Contempt in the First Degree, for allegedly violating the same order of protection and another order of protection of this court dated, March 31, 2015. No felony hearing was conducted on either complaint.
Following multiple adjournments on both felony complaints, the People, on December 29, 2015, filed two superseding misdemeanor informations; for the first felony complaint, the charges of Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree (PL§ 215.50), Stalking in the Fourth Degree (PL§ 120.45) and Harassment in the Second Degree (PL§ 240.26); for the second felony complaint, Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree, Stalking in the Fourth Degree, Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree (PL§ 240.30) and Harassment in the Second Degree. The Court adjourned the arraignments to January 5, 2016.
On January 5, 2016, defense counsel objected to the arraignments on the ground that the provisions of CPL§ 180.50 were not being followed. The People requested that the defendant be arraigned. The Court told defense counsel that he would have to make his objections in writing and asked him if he waived a reading of the charges. With the understanding that counsel was not concurring in the proceeding, he waived a reading of the rights and charges and entered a plea of not guilty to the informations on behalf of the defendant. He also said he would file motions for February 16, 2016.
The defendant's motions to dismiss against both informations are grounded on the prosecution's asserted disregard of the requirements of CPL§ 180.50 for the reduction of felonies to misdemeanors, the prosecution's allegedly not having been "ready" because of the improper attempt to supersede the felony complaints with misdemeanor informations, thus resulting in dismissals pursuant to CPL§ 30.30; and the accusatory instrument's allegedly not complying [*2]with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Law.
The People declined to respond to the defendant's motions.
The People have attempted to replace two felony complaints with two superseding misdemeanor informations instead of following the procedure required by CPL§ 180.50 for reducing felonies to misdemeanors. A felony complaint cannot be superseded by a misdemeanor information under CPL§ 100.50. (People v. Thomas, 107 Misc 2d 947; People v. Young, 123 Misc 2d 486).
Accordingly, the superseding misdemeanor informations are dismissed, the felony complaints remain pending (People v. Minor, 144 Misc 2d 846), and they are set down for hearings on July 5, 2016 at 9:30 a.m..
June 14, 2016__________________________________
David Otis Fuller, Jr.
Tuckahoe Village Justice
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
