People v. Summers
New York Supreme Court
Before Mr. Justice Gaynor as a magistrate. The defendants, who are a captain of police and three patrolmen under him, were arrested under a warrant issued by a Justice of the Supreme Court acting as a magistrate. The charge against them was the crime of oppression under section 556 of the Penal Code. The defendants after being arraigned before the said magistrate moved to dismiss the case on the ground that the facts charged in the deposition did not show a criminal offence.
1Opinion of the Court
Gaynor, J.:
The motion to dismiss must be denied; and it seems best to state the law of the case now for guidance on the preliminary hearing. This captain of police, and the three patrolmen who acted under his orders, are charged with the serious crime of official oppression. The last indictment and conviction for this crime in this part of the state were, I think, of Sutherland, who was a party to the lawlessness of the McKane police, who entered houses without warrants, and arrested people without warrants for alleged misdemeanors not committed in their presence, and generally trampled on…
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