United States of America Ex Rel. Codarre v. Gilligan, Acting Warden of Green Haven Prison, Stormville, New York

I respectfully dissent.

This case is unique in that the Legislature of the State of New York has, since the defendant’s conviction in 1943, amended1 the Juvenile Delinquency Act in 1948 and 1949 so that a child under the age of 15 has no criminal responsibility, as such, irrespective of the act involved. Thus, under existing laws a 13-year-old could never again be presented for murder in the first degree for a homicide, for which he had been the causative agent. However, this law is not applicable to this defendant, because the New York Court of Appeals has ruled that this legislation “cannot…