In People v. Rogers (183 Misc. 2d 538 [Watertown City Ct 2000]), the defendant argued that the use of the word "unjustifiable" in sections 353 and 350 violated the Due Process Clause because it failed to give adequate notice that the conduct of docking a dog's tail was proscribed by the statutes. The court held that since docking a dog's tail is conduct that is innocent and neither prescribed nor proscribed by statute, it may not be made a crime by the mere adding of the prefix "un" before the term "justified," because adding the prefix offers no more guidance to a reasonable person with respect to the legality of his or her conduct. The court found that the use of the terms "unjustifiable" and "unjustifiably" as applied to defendant's conduct was vague and violated due process notions.