In re Joseph S.

62 Misc. 2d 329, 308 N.Y.S.2d 943, 1969 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 958
CourtNew York City Family Court
DecidedDecember 23, 1969
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 62 Misc. 2d 329 (In re Joseph S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York City Family Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Joseph S., 62 Misc. 2d 329, 308 N.Y.S.2d 943, 1969 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 958 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1969).

Opinion

Ralph E. Cory, J.

The respondent, Joseph S., 13, is charged with assaulting, on or about 11:45 p.m. on August 18, 1969, one Edward B., 52, in a basement apartment at 218 West 141st St., New York City by striking him on the head with a cane. The respondent is further charged with causing the death of Frank H., age 55, by placing and manipulating a rope round his neck.

On consent of the attorneys, the medical examiner’s report and autopsy were accepted info evidence and a stipulation entered into by both counsel that the cause of death of Frank H. was due to ‘6 strangulation by rope with fracture of the Larynx, Homi[330]*330cidal ”, without the necessity of having the medical examiner present for cross-examination.

The petitioner is the detective with the Police Department, who placed the respondent under arrest on August 19,1969 after the police investigation and interrogation of the respondent and several other persons had been completed, for committing acts, which if done by an adult would constitute the crime or crimes of assault and homicide, in accordance with the provisions of article 7 of the Family Court Act.

Undisputed testimony contained in the following brief summary of the facts, not contradicted by the respondent, who did not take the stand, or his witnesses (his mother and 17-year-old sister), and based on the credible evidence of all the witnesses on direct, cross-examination and redirect, is substantially as follows:

The respondent was in the basement apartment when the police arrived in answer to a call about a dead man at the premises in question around 11:45 p.m, on the night of August 18, 1969. The police had been summoned by a friend of the respondent’s mother after respondent had told her that he had found a dead body at 218 West 141st Street. The respondent had also informed his mother and sister several hours earlier of this occurrence. At their request, respondent returned home a short time later, where the matter was discussed with his mother and older brother, who admonished him to remain in the house. The respondent refused and returned to the basement apartment where he was found by the police, along with the unidentified male, black, age 19, later identified as Charles H.; Edward B. the victim of the assault, who was asleep; and the deceased Frank H. in the rear bedroom. Edward B. had been hired by one Pearl H., the owner of the apartment building to be the superintendent, since her husband had died several months earlier. The respondent had been taking guitar lessons from Pearl H. ’s deceased husband. On the fateful day in question, Pearl H. had promised to give Joseph S. her husband’s guitar, which he was to pick up that evening when she returned from Brooklyn with it. Pearl EL, a cousin of the deceased, identified the body for the police.

The respondent and the other boy known as Charles EE. left the apartment around 12 midnight. When the policeman came out of the apartment at 2:30 a.m. on August 19, 1969 after completing his initial investigation, the respondent was sitting on the front stoop. Joseph S. approached the officer and said he wished to speak to him. The respondent then told the police officer voluntarily that he had seen two boys come into the apartment and [331]*331strangle the deceased with a rope around his neck. The respondent demonstrated by showing the officer the rope which was under a pile of clothes on the bed where the deceased lay face up. The patrolman asked the respondent to accompany him to the police station. He did so voluntarily and there told the detectives the same story. The respondent was not a suspect at this time and the patrolman was instructed to take Joseph S. to his home and advise his mother that he was a witness to a homicide.

Mrs. S. was informed and, accompanied by her daughter, was taken to the police station. William C., Charles H., and Pearl H. were also taken to the police station at this time. The police officer had a difficult time arousing Edward B., the victim of the assault, who was first taken to the emergency room of the hospital for treatment where he was found to have a head wound in the middle of the scalp, no hair at the place of the wound, and blood on his shirt. Edward B. was subsequently taken to the police station. In the course of the police investigation, the respondent told the officer that one Rodney R. had forced him to strangle the deceased, after telling him to only tighten the rope to scare the deceased. The police immediately checked their criminal files and found a picture of Rodney R., 24, male, Negro, which they showed to the respondent who stated that that was the man that forced him to strangle the deceased. The police immediately visited the home of Rodney R. where they were informed by Rodney’s mother that her son had been confined in Auburn State Prison for the past four and one-half months which the police verified.

When Edward B. first stepped into the police squad room on the second floor of the station he immediately and spontaneously identified the respondent who already was in the squad room with Charles H., the other young Negro found in the apartment upon the initial entry of the police. Edward B. saw the respondent and shouted “ That’s the boy that did it. Lock him up. There is the one who hit me right here — he is the one ”. Up until this point when the identification was made by Edward B., the respondent was still not a suspect, only a witness along with several others brought to the police station for the normal pretrial investigation.

Edward B., the victim of the assault, had testified on direct examination for the People that he was sitting in the kitchen of the basement apartment late in the evening of August 18, 1969 when the respondent entered and asked for Pearl H. Edward B. replied he did not know where Pearl H. was. The respondent then demanded the guitar or $5. Edward B. replied he knew nothing about the guitar or $5; whereupon the respond[332]*332ent angrily grabbed Edward B.’s cane which he found hanging over a closet door and started beating Edward B. on the top of the head with the curved part of the cane handle. Edward B. tried to grab the cane from the respondent as he was being hit. Edward B. testified the respondent had on a white T-shirt, white sneakers, and was “ as black as my shoe ”. Frank H., the deceased came into the room and asked the respondent ‘ ‘ Why are you hitting that man on the head? ’ ’ The respondent angrily turned to the deceased and said “ Get on out of here. You have nothing to do with this-you’re next! ” Edward B. testified further that he saw the respondent follow Frank H., the deceased, to his room, but heard nothing. Edward B. then went into the bathroom, wet his T-shirt, put it on his wounded head and lay down on his bed. His next remembrance was several hours later when the first patrolman at the scene, awakened him and William 0. and told them Frank H. was dead.

The respondent was brought into a small coffee room off the squad room on the second floor of the police station immediately after Edward B., the victim of the assault, had identified him. The petitioner said to him, “ You hear what they are saying. Why don’t you tell me what happened? ” According to the testimony of the detective and the patrolman first at the scene who also was present in the squad room at the interrogation, the respondent was told his rights and given the Miranda warnings which were read to him from a poster on the wall.

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Bluebook (online)
62 Misc. 2d 329, 308 N.Y.S.2d 943, 1969 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 958, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-joseph-s-nycfamct-1969.