People v. Butts

Full title: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. ARTHUR BUTTS…

Court: Court of Appeals of the State of New York

Date published: Jun 8, 1973

32 N.Y.2d 946 (N.Y. 1973)

347 N.Y.S.2d 203

300 N.E.2d 735

Opinion

Argued May 30, 1973

Decided June 8, 1973

Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, IVAN WARNER, J., GEORGE POSTEL, J.

Sidney Freiberg for Arthur Butts, appellant.

Philip L. Weinstein and William E. Hellerstein for Russell Love, appellant.

Diana Budzanoski and William E. Hellerstein for Samuel Easley, appellant.

Mario Merola, District Attorney ( Ronny Greenwald Siegal, Jeffrey Philip Sinensky and George S. Stone of counsel), for respondent.

Orders affirmed; no opinion.

Concur: Chief Judge FULD and Judges BURKE, JASEN, GABRIELLI, JONES and WACHTLER.

Judge BREITEL concurs in the following memorandum:

I concur on constraint of People v. Carter ( 31 N.Y.2d 964). Were I not bound by the Carter case, I would vote to reverse and to interpret the statute as requiring a medical examination not only to verify the fact of addiction but as also having the enlightened purpose of providing the sentencing court with information on the nature, circumstances, and extent of the addiction. Thus, the court would have an effective and informed basis for choosing between a treatment program and the usual penal sanction.