New York Court of Appeals Overturns Conviction of Kramer Levin Pro Bono Client and Clarifies Scope of Disorderly Conduct Statute

On April 1, 2014, the New York Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the conviction of Kramer Levin client Todd Johnson, whom we represented pro bono. Mr. Johnson’s conviction hinged on whether the People, at a suppression hearing, established that the police had probable cause to arrest Mr. Johnson for disorderly conduct. According to the police, Mr. Johnson stood with three other men, reputed to be gang members, on a street corner down the block from his home and did not “move on” when asked to do so by the police. The People argued that this request to move on and the arrest for failure to obey were justified in part by the background of Mr. Johnson’s neighborhood and companions. Kramer Levin argued that sustaining Mr. Johnson’s conviction would gut the statutory requirement that a disorderly conduct arrest be based on actual or threatened public harm, encourage the use of the disorderly conduct statute as a vehicle for making arbitrary, warrantless arrests, and raise serious constitutional problems. The Court of Appeals held that the facts did not satisfy the public harm element of the disorderly conduct statute, and concluded: “It is not disorderly conduct . . . for a small group of people, even people of bad reputation, to stand peaceably on a street corner.”

Litigation partner Stephen M. Sinaiko argued the appeal. The Kramer Levin team included litigation associates Scott Ruskay-Kidd, Nicole Foley, Theodore S. Hertzberg, and Megan Ryan, and intellectual property associate Shannon H. Hedvat. The Legal Aid Society referred the matter to Kramer Levin and served as co-counsel. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the New York City Bar Association appeared as amici curiae and filed briefs with the Court of Appeals supporting Mr. Johnson.

The decision was reported in the New York Law Journal.