People v. Romano

In People v. Romano (188 Misc 2d 368) Judge Deborah Stevens Modica, while acknowledging that "given the absence of any other appellate decision, especially one from the Second Department, Appellate Term or Appellate Division, this Court is bound by the decision in Kirkham," stated emphatically that she did not agree with the result reached in People v. Kirkham (Romano, supra at 369). Judge Modica then set out in detail the legislative history of the crime of criminal contempt revealing that the addition of the labor law language was added in 1935 to give immunity to persons accused of violating court orders in labor-related settings. Judge Modica then reasoned that "it makes more sense to conclude that the Legislature intended the labor language to operate as a jurisdictional impediment to conviction ... rather than an element of the crime" (Romano, supra at 372), and should thus be treated as a proviso.