People v. Taylor-Atkins

In People v. Taylor-Atkins, 42 Misc 3d 1214[A], 986 N.Y.S.2d 867, 2014 NY Slip Op 50040[U] (Crim. Ct. NY County 2014) the Court found that an Information charging criminal mischief did not sufficiently allege intent, where it provided merely that the defendant "forcefully open[ed] the door " of a building "causing the glass in the door to shatter." (42 Misc 3d at 1214[A], 986 N.Y.S.2d at 867.) The Court noted that: doors are meant to be opened; sometimes they are opened forcefully and break, and sometimes they are opened gently and do not. Given this, it takes something more than the allegation of the mere opening of a door, even with sufficient force to damage it, to establish that the defendant acted with the specific intent - the conscious objective - of damaging it. (Id.) But the Court also noted that, "ordinarily, the intent to damage property can readily be inferred when a defendant damages property by subjecting it to a form of use or abuse that is not characteristic of the typical use of that sort of property."