l’État de New York Law

l’Article 155 – NY Droit Pénal

S 155.00 Larceny; definitions of terms. The following definitions are applicable to this title: 1. "Property" means any money, personal property, real property,computer data, computer program, thing in action, evidence of debt orcontract, or any article, substance or thing of value, including anygas, steam, water or electricity, which is provided for a charge orcompensation. 2. "Obtain" includes, but is not limited to, the bringing about of atransfer or purported transfer of property or of a legal interesttherein, whether to the obtainer or another. 3. "Deprive." To "deprive" another of property means (a) to withholdit or cause it to be withheld from him permanently or for so extended aperiod or under such circumstances that the major portion of itseconomic value or benefit is lost to him, or (b) to dispose of theproperty in such manner or under such circumstances as to render itunlikely that an owner will recover such property. 4. "Appropriate." To "appropriate" property of another to oneself or athird person means (a) to exercise control over it, or to aid a thirdperson to exercise control over it, permanently or for so extended aperiod or under such circumstances as to acquire the major portion ofits economic value or benefit, or (b) to dispose of the property for thebenefit of oneself or a third person. 5. "Owner." When property is taken, obtained or withheld by one personfrom another person, an "owner" thereof means any person who has a rightto possession thereof superior to that of the taker, obtainer orwithholder. A person who has obtained possession of property by theft or otherillegal means shall be deemed to have a right of possession superior tothat of a person who takes, obtains or withholds it from him bylarcenous means. A joint or common owner of property shall not be deemed to have aright of possession thereto superior to that of any other joint orcommon owner thereof. In the absence of a specific agreement to the contrary, a person inlawful possession of property shall be deemed to have a right ofpossession superior to that of a person having only a security interesttherein, even if legal title lies with the holder of the securityinterest pursuant to a conditional sale contract or other securityagreement. 6. "Secret scientific material" means a sample, culture,micro-organism, specimen, record, recording, document, drawing or anyother article, material, device or substance which constitutes,represents, evidences, reflects, or records a scientific or technicalprocess, invention or formula or any part or phase thereof, and which isnot, and is not intended to be, available to anyone other than theperson or persons rightfully in possession thereof or selected personshaving access thereto with his or their consent, and when it accords ormay accord such rightful possessors an advantage over competitors orother persons who do not have knowledge or the benefit thereof. 7. "Credit card" means any instrument or article defined as a creditcard in section five hundred eleven of the general business law. 7-a. "Debit card" means any instrument or article defined as a debitcard in section five hundred eleven of the general business law. 7-b. "Public benefit card" means any medical assistance card, foodstamp assistance card, public assistance card, or any otheridentification, authorization card or electronic access device issued bythe state or a social services district as defined in subdivision sevenof section two of the social services law, which entitles a person toobtain public assistance benefits under a local, state or federalprogram administered by the state, its political subdivisions or socialservices districts. 7-c. "Access device" means any telephone calling card number, creditcard number, account number, mobile identification number, electronicserial number or personal identification number that can be used toobtain telephone service. 8. "Service" includes, but is not limited to, labor, professionalservice, a computer service, transportation service, the supplying ofhotel accommodations, restaurant services, entertainment, the supplyingof equipment for use, and the supplying of commodities of a publicutility nature such as gas, electricity, steam and water. A ticket orequivalent instrument which evidences a right to receive a service isnot in itself service but constitutes property within the meaning ofsubdivision one. 9. "Cable television service" means any and all services provided byor through the facilities of any cable television system or closedcircuit coaxial cable communications system, or any microwave or similartransmission service used in connection with any cable television systemor other similar closed circuit coaxial cable communications system.S 155.05 Larceny; defined. 1. A person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent todeprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or toa third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such propertyfrom an owner thereof. 2. Larceny includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or withholding ofanother`s property, with the intent prescribed in subdivision one ofthis section, committed in any of the following ways: (a) By conduct heretofore defined or known as common law larceny bytrespassory taking, common law larceny by trick, embezzlement, orobtaining property by false pretenses; (b) By acquiring lost property. A person acquires lost property when he exercises control overproperty of another which he knows to have been lost or mislaid, or tohave been delivered under a mistake as to the identity of the recipientor the nature or amount of the property, without taking reasonablemeasures to return such property to the owner; (c) By committing the crime of issuing a bad check, as defined insection 190.05; (d) By false promise. A person obtains property by false promise when, pursuant to a schemeto defraud, he obtains property of another by means of a representation,express or implied, that he or a third person will in the future engagein particular conduct, and when he does not intend to engage in suchconduct or, as the case may be, does not believe that the third personintends to engage in such conduct. In any prosecution for larceny based upon a false promise, thedefendant`s intention or belief that the promise would not be performedmay not be established by or inferred from the fact alone that suchpromise was not performed. Such a finding may be based only uponevidence establishing that the facts and circumstances of the case arewholly consistent with guilty intent or belief and wholly inconsistentwith innocent intent or belief, and excluding to a moral certainty everyhypothesis except that of the defendant`s intention or belief that thepromise would not be performed; (e) By extortion. A person obtains property by extortion when he compels or inducesanother person to deliver such property to himself or to a third personby means of instilling in him a fear that, if the property is not sodelivered, the actor or another will: (i) Cause physical injury to some person in the future; or (ii) Cause damage to property; or (iii) Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or (iv) Accuse some person of a crime or cause criminal charges to beinstituted against him; or (v) Expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether true orfalse, tending to subject some person to hatred, contempt or ridicule;or (vi) Cause a strike, boycott or other collective labor group actioninjurious to some person`s business; except that such a threat shall notbe deemed extortion when the property is demanded or received for thebenefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act; or (vii) Testify or provide information or withhold testimony orinformation with respect to another`s legal claim or defense; or (viii) Use or abuse his position as a public servant by performingsome act within or related to his official duties, or by failing orrefusing to perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect someperson adversely; or (ix) Perform any other act which would not in itself materiallybenefit the actor but which is calculated to harm another personmaterially with respect to his health, safety, business, calling,career, financial condition, reputation or personal relationships.S 155.10 Larceny; no defense. The crimes of (a) larceny committed by means of extortion and anattempt to commit the same, and (b) bribe receiving by a labor officialas defined in section 180.20, and bribe receiving as defined in section 200.05, are not mutually exclusive, and it is no defense to aprosecution for larceny committed by means of extortion or for anattempt to commit the same that, by reason of the same conduct, thedefendant also committed one of such specified crimes of bribereceiving.S 155.15 Larceny; defenses. 1. In any prosecution for larceny committed by trespassory taking orembezzlement, it is an affirmative defense that the property wasappropriated under a claim of right made in good faith. 2. In any prosecution for larceny by extortion committed by instillingin the victim a fear that he or another person would be charged with acrime, it is an affirmative defense that the defendant reasonablybelieved the threatened charge to be true and that his sole purpose wasto compel or induce the victim to take reasonable action to make goodthe wrong which was the subject of such threatened charge.S 155.20 Larceny; value of stolen property. For the purposes of this title, the value of property shall beascertained as follows: 1. Except as otherwise specified in this section, value means themarket value of the property at the time and place of the crime, or ifsuch cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, the cost of replacement ofthe property within a reasonable time after the crime. 2. Whether or not they have been issued or delivered, certain writteninstruments, not including those having a readily ascertainable marketvalue such as some public and corporate bonds and securities, shall beevaluated as follows: (a) The value of an instrument constituting an evidence of debt, suchas a check, draft or promissory note, shall be deemed the amount due orcollectable thereon or thereby, such figure ordinarily being the faceamount of the indebtedness less any portion thereof which has beensatisfied. (b) The value of a ticket or equivalent instrument which evidences aright to receive a transportation, entertainment or other service shallbe deemed the price stated thereon, if any; and if no price is statedthereon the value shall be deemed the price of such ticket or equivalentinstrument which the issuer charges the general public. (c) The value of any other instrument which creates, releases,discharges or otherwise affects any valuable legal right, privilege orobligation shall be deemed the greatest amount of economic loss whichthe owner of the instrument might reasonably suffer by virtue of theloss of the instrument. 3. Where the property consists of gas, steam, water or electricity,which is provided for charge or compensation, the value shall be thevalue of the property stolen in any consecutive twelve-month period. 4. When the value of property cannot be satisfactorily ascertainedpursuant to the standards set forth in subdivisions one and two of thissection, its value shall be deemed to be an amount less than two hundredfifty dollars.S 155.25 Petit larceny. A person is guilty of petit larceny when he steals property. Petit larceny is a class A misdemeanor.S 155.30 Grand larceny in the fourth degree. A person is guilty of grand larceny in the fourth degree when hesteals property and when: 1. The value of the property exceeds one thousand dollars; or 2. The property consists of a public record, writing or instrumentkept, filed or deposited according to law with or in the keeping of anypublic office or public servant; or 3. The property consists of secret scientific material; or 4. The property consists of a credit card or debit card; or 5. The property, regardless of its nature and value, is taken from theperson of another; or 6. The property, regardless of its nature and value, is obtained byextortion; or 7. The property consists of one or more firearms, rifles or shotguns,as such terms are defined in section 265.00 of this chapter; or 8. The value of the property exceeds one hundred dollars and theproperty consists of a motor vehicle, as defined in section one hundredtwenty-five of the vehicle and traffic law, other than a motorcycle, asdefined in section one hundred twenty-three of such law; or 9. The property consists of a scroll, religious vestment, a vessel, anitem comprising a display of religious symbols which forms arepresentative expression of faith, or other miscellaneous item ofproperty which: (a) has a value of at least one hundred dollars; and (b) is kept for or used in connection with religious worship in anybuilding, structure or upon the curtilage of such building or structureused as a place of religious worship by a religious corporation, asincorporated under the religious corporations law or the education law. 10. The property consists of an access device which the person intendsto use unlawfully to obtain telephone service. 11. The property consists of anhydrous ammonia or liquified ammoniagas and the actor intends to use, or knows another person intends touse, such anhydrous ammonia or liquified ammonia gas to manufacturemethamphetamine. Grand larceny in the fourth degree is a class E felony.S 155.35 Grand larceny in the third degree. A person is guilty of grand larceny in the third degree when he or shesteals property and: 1. when the value of the property exceeds three thousand dollars, or 2. the property is an automated teller machine or the contents of anautomated teller machine. Grand larceny in the third degree is a class D felony.S 155.40 Grand larceny in the second degree. A person is guilty of grand larceny in the second degree when hesteals property and when: 1. The value of the property exceeds fifty thousand dollars; or 2. The property, regardless of its nature and value, is obtained byextortion committed by instilling in the victim a fear that the actor oranother person will (a) cause physical injury to some person in thefuture, or (b) cause damage to property, or (c) use or abuse hisposition as a public servant by engaging in conduct within or related tohis official duties, or by failing or refusing to perform an officialduty, in such manner as to affect some person adversely. Grand larceny in the second degree is a class C felony.S 155.42 Grand larceny in the first degree. A person is guilty of grand larceny in the first degree when he stealsproperty and when the value of the property exceeds one million dollars. Grand larceny in the first degree is a class B felony.S 155.43 Aggravated grand larceny of an automated teller machine. A person is guilty of aggravated grand larceny of an automated tellermachine when he or she commits the crime of grand larceny in the thirddegree, as defined in subdivision two of section 155.35 of this articleand has been previously convicted of grand larceny in the third degreewithin the previous five years.Aggravated grand larceny of an automated teller machine is a class C felony.S 155.45 Larceny; pleading and proof. 1. Where it is an element of the crime charged that property was takenfrom the person or obtained by extortion, an indictment for larceny mustso specify. In all other cases, an indictment, information or complaintfor larceny is sufficient if it alleges that the defendant stoleproperty of the nature or value required for the commission of the crimecharged without designating the particular way or manner in which suchproperty was stolen or the particular theory of larceny involved. 2. Proof that the defendant engaged in any conduct constitutinglarceny as defined in section 155.05 is sufficient to support anyindictment, information or complaint for larceny other than one charginglarceny by extortion. An indictment charging larceny by extortion mustbe supported by proof establishing larceny by extortion.Top of Page