Bonneau v. LaManna

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 27, 2023
Docket7:18-cv-02228-CS-AEK
StatusUnknown

This text of Bonneau v. LaManna (Bonneau v. LaManna) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bonneau v. LaManna, (S.D.N.Y. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

JUDE BONNEAU, 18 Civ. 2228 (CS) (AEK) Petitioner, - against - REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION JAMIE LAMANNA,

Respondent.

TO: THE HONORABLE CATHY SEIBEL, U.S.D.J1

Currently before the Court is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 filed by pro se Petitioner Jude Bonneau (“Petitioner”), challenging his judgment of conviction, following a guilty plea, for the crime of attempted burglary in the second degree. ECF No. 1 (“Petition”) ¶ 5.2 The Petition sets forth two purported grounds for habeas relief: (1) the trial court erred in denying Petitioner’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea because Petitioner was coerced into entering the plea; and (2) Petitioner’s counsel was ineffective because he pressured Petitioner into entering the guilty plea. Petition ¶ 12. For the reasons that follow, I respectfully recommend that the Petition be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.

1 This matter originally was referred to the Honorable Lisa Margaret Smith on April 12, 2018. ECF No. 7. It was reassigned to the undersigned on October 17, 2020. 2 Petitioner originally was charged via indictment with two counts of burglary in the second degree. ECF No. 13 ( “Resp. Mem. in Opp’n”) at 1; ECF No. 14 (State Court Record (“SCR”)) 036-039. BACKGROUND I. The Plea On October 31, 2014, prior to the start of a pre-trial hearing, the court3 granted defense counsel’s request to allow Petitioner to consult with his family off the record in the courtroom,

while defense counsel was present. SCR 036. According to the transcript of the proceedings, the prosecutor left the courtroom to allow them some privacy, and the judge stayed on the bench. Id. Petitioner consulted with counsel during this time as well. Id. Following these consultations, the judge sought to confirm whether a proposed disposition had been reached. SCR 037. The prosecutor explained that on the condition that Petitioner enter a guilty plea to the second count of the indictment, the prosecution would move to reduce that count from burglary in the second degree to attempted burglary in the second degree, and would recommend a reduced sentence of 12 years to life imprisonment. SCR 037-038. Defense counsel stated that Petitioner offered to plead guilty to the amended second count of the indictment, with the “understanding . . . that the Court would commit itself to a sentence of 12 years to life . . . .”

SCR 039. The court stated that this sentence would be the minimum sentence that could be imposed on Petitioner, who qualified as a persistent violent felony offender based on his previous convictions for burglary in the second degree in 2006 and assault in the second degree in 2003. SCR 039-040. Petitioner conceded the previous convictions and the constitutionality of

3 The cover page of the transcript of the October 31, 2014 hearing indicates that the hearing was conducted before the Honorable William K. Nelson, Judge of the County Court of Rockland County. SCR 035. Other portions of the State Court Record, however, indicate that the October 31, 2014 hearing was conducted before the Honorable William A. Kelly, a New York State Supreme Court Justice sitting in Rockland County. See ECF No. 15 (“Sentencing Tr.”) at 7-10 (ECF pgs. 82-85) (in which Justice Kelly speaks in the first person about how he conducted the plea allocution proceeding). It appears likely that the reference to Judge Nelson on the cover page of the October 31, 2014 transcript is an error. To avoid any potential confusion, in discussing the October 31, 2014 proceeding, this Report and Recommendation will refer to the judicial officer who conducted that proceeding only as “the judge” or “the court.” those convictions, and the judge stated that he “would be sentencing [Petitioner] as a persistent violent felony offender . . . .” SCR 040. Petitioner acknowledged that he understood that he would be withdrawing his plea of not guilty and would be entering a plea of guilty to the class D violent felony offense of attempted burglary in the second degree. SCR 041-042.

After being placed under oath, Petitioner stated that he had had the opportunity to speak with his counsel and his family members before deciding to enter his guilty plea. SCR 044-045. The judge explained to Petitioner certain rights that he would be waiving by entering a guilty plea, including the right to remain silent; the right to a trial, with or without a jury, at which the prosecution would have the burden to prove Petitioner’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; the right to testify at trial; and the rights to be present at trial to see and hear witnesses against him, to have his counsel cross-examine those witnesses, and to call witnesses of his own. SCR 045- 046. Petitioner said that he understood that by pleading guilty, he was waiving those rights. SCR 046. The court explained that the prosecution was recommending a sentence of 12 years to life imprisonment for Petitioner’s plea of guilty to attempted burglary in the second degree, and

that this represented a reduction of what the minimum sentence would have been had Petitioner been convicted of burglary in the second degree, the crime originally charged in the second count of the indictment. SCR 047. Petitioner confirmed that he understood the sentencing recommendation. Id. In response to a question from the judge, Petitioner admitted that he committed the crime of attempted burglary in the second degree in that on July 14, 2014, in Rockland County, he attempted to enter and unlawfully remain inside a dwelling at 5 Laura Drive, Airmont, New York, with intent to commit a crime inside that dwelling. Id. When the prosecutor posed additional questions to Petitioner as part of the allocution process, Petitioner admitted that he did not have permission or authority to be in the house, but he denied that he had broken a window to enter the house; instead, Petitioner asserted that he entered the house through a door. SCR 048. After some brief additional exchanges between the prosecutor and Petitioner about why he was at the Laura Drive house, including a claim by Petitioner that an individual inside the house

owed him money, the judge stated that he would not accept Petitioner’s guilty plea and asked the prosecutor to describe what he believed the evidence would show. SCR 049-050. According to the prosecutor, he was prepared to present evidence that Petitioner cut through a screen and broke the back window of the house, climbed into the house without permission or authority, and was confronted by a young man inside the house. SCR 050. The prosecutor also represented that the evidence would show that Petitioner demanded money from the young man inside the house, and that when the young man said he had no money, Petitioner left the residence and was arrested approximately two houses away by the police. Id. At that point in the hearing, the judge explained to Petitioner that unless he admitted his guilt—i.e., that he entered the house with the intent to commit a crime and that he had no consent or permission

to be there—the court would not accept his plea, and Petitioner would have to proceed to trial. Id. When Petitioner admitted only that he “asked for money” from the young man in the house, the judge refused to accept the plea and ordered that the pre-trial hearing proceed. SCR 051-053. After the first witness began to testify, and as the prosecutor started to play a videotape of Petitioner’s interview with the police on the night of the crime, Petitioner’s counsel informed the court that Petitioner was ready again to attempt an allocution. SCR 054-061.

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Bonneau v. LaManna, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bonneau-v-lamanna-nysd-2023.