Ganci v. Berry

702 F. Supp. 400, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14820, 1988 WL 139858
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedDecember 20, 1988
DocketNo. 88 CV 2423
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 702 F. Supp. 400 (Ganci v. Berry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ganci v. Berry, 702 F. Supp. 400, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14820, 1988 WL 139858 (E.D.N.Y. 1988).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NICKERSON, District Judge.

Petitioner seeks habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1982).

He was charged in Suffolk County, New York in two indictments for two bank robberies, one at the European American Bank, in Huntington Station, New York, on March 27, 1978, and the other at Central Federal Savings and Loan Bank in West Islip, New York on July 19, 1978. He was also charged in both indictments with criminal possession of stolen property. The indictments were consolidated for trial. The jury found him guilty of all charges, and the court sentenced him to concurrent terms, the longest of which was 12x/2 to 25 years.

The Appellate Division affirmed on January 23, 1981, and on March 25, 1981 the Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal. Thereafter petitioner applied under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for habeas corpus, which was denied by Judge Pratt on January 7, 1982. Petitioner then brought two New York C.P.L. Article 440 motions, the first of which was later withdrawn and the second of which was denied. In none of the foregoing post-trial applications did petitioner raise the issue now urged.

On February 10, 1984 petitioner renewed his first Article 440 motion, contending that he had been denied a fair trial because material of which he had just learned had been withheld by the prosecutors although they were obligated under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), to furnish it to defense counsel. The Suffolk County court held an evidentia-ry hearing on the motion and denied it on [402]*402November 27, 1984. The Appellate Division denied leave to appeal.

I.

Respondent concedes that petitioner has exhausted his state remedies. He could not obtain an appeal as a matter of right from the denial of the Article 440 motion, but he did seek leave to appeal from the Appellate Division. He could not get further review because the Court of Appeals has held that it has no power to vacate a conviction based on newly discovered evidence. People v. Crimmins, 38 N.Y.2d 407, 381 N.Y.S.2d 1, 343 N.E.2d 719 (1975).

II.

At the criminal trial the prosecution introduced evidence showing, in substance, the following.

At about 1:00 p.m. on March 27, 1978 a lone robber entered the European American Bank at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington Station. He announced a holdup and instructed everyone to put their hands on the counters in front of the tellers’ windows. Pointing a shotgun at Deborah Yager, a bank service representative, and handing her what looked like a blue pillowcase, he told her to fill it with money. She proceeded to do so, emptying first her cash drawer and then the other tellers’ unlocked drawers. At one point the robber told her to get money from the lower, second drawer, which contained bulk money or reserve cash. She could not do this because the drawer was locked.

Yager then emptied the cash drawers at the drive-in window station and put the bills, including $1000 in “bait” money, the serial numbers of which had been recorded, in the blue bag. She walked back to where the robber was standing at the end of the counter. He then noticed a canvas bag on the counter, and at his direction she placed it in the blue bag. The canvas bag contained unvalidated Series E savings bonds.

While this was going on, Lawrence Koe-nig, an employee of a store in the shopping center, came in to deposit receipts, carrying about $6,000 and checks. The robber held a gun to him and told him to turn over the money. He did, and the robber, after telling everyone to lie on the floor, left.

At trial the witnesses described the robber as wearing a rubber Halloween-type mask covering his whole face. The photographs taken by the bank camera show a mask with a large moustache, heavy eyebrows, a large straight nose, and prominent eyes, apparently painted on the mask. The hair looks like a wig. The shotgun and the bag appear clearly in the bank photograph of the robber as he left the bank, clad in a long dark coat and gloves.

The witnesses disagreed as to the robber’s height and build. Koenig described him as 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 6 inches. Yager said he was between 5 feet 8V2 inches to 5 feet 9 inches, as did Richard Gearns, the branch manager. Koenig thought the robber heavy-set or stout but dressed bulkily. Yager described him as slender. So did Gearns, adding that the coat was ill-fitting or loose.

While the robbery was in progress, Lisa Ann Sorrentino, a passenger in her aunt’s car when they drove in to the drive-in window, saw a woman in the bank with her hands up and realized a robbery was in progress. They drove to another bank across the parking lot to call the police. While her aunt went inside to call, Sorrenti-no went outside to see if anyone came out of the European American Bank. She saw a man come from the bank door and walk quickly, apparently with a limp, through some cars. He wore a long dark coat and carried a blue bag. He had no mask but dark hair standing up on end at the back of his head. She testified she was between 50 to 70 feet away when she saw him. On the day of the robbery she picked out petitioner from a group of photographs, although she was only 80% certain. However, she positively identified him both in a line-up held in September 1978 and at trial.

One other witness, Kathryn Niccolls, a registered nurse, saw petitioner outside the bank at the time of the robbery. She had driven a co-worker to the bank at about 1:00 p.m. that day. She stayed in the car while her co-worker went inside to cash a [403]*403check. After about ten minutes Niccolls decided to see why her friend was delayed, and as she was getting out of the car she saw a man walking quickly with a distinctive gait across the parking lot. He wore a raincoat extending below the knee and carried a blue bag. The hair on the back of his head was standing up, and he walked to a .green car with a dull finish.

Niccolls could make no identification from the photographs but positively identified petitioner when she viewed him in the September 1978 line-up.

From the bank photographs police witnesses testified that the gun was either a 12-gauge or a 16-gauge pump-action shotgun.

The robbery of the Central Federal Savings and Loan Bank commenced at about 10:00 a.m. on July 19, 1978, when Ben Battaglia pulled into the bank’s parking lot and a van parked next to him. The driver of the van, wearing a mask, got out, grabbed Battaglia by the arm, and shoved him toward the bank, saying “This gun is behind you.” Inside the bank the robber handed Battaglia a blue bag, told him to give it to the cashier, announced a holdup, and directed everyone to put their hands on the counter in front of the tellers’ windows.

Battaglia handed the blue bag to Carol Falconer, a teller, while the robber stood at the end of the counter. Falconer then put in the bag all the cash, including “bait” money, from her top and, at the robber’s demand, her second drawer. Three other tellers did likewise. Falconer then gave the bag back to the robber, who, after telling everyone to lie on the floor, left by a side door.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ganci v. Berry
896 F.2d 543 (Second Circuit, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
702 F. Supp. 400, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14820, 1988 WL 139858, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ganci-v-berry-nyed-1988.