In re Parker

11 Misc. 3d 252
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 26, 2005
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Misc. 3d 252 (In re Parker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Parker, 11 Misc. 3d 252 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2005).

Opinion

[253]*253OPINION OF THE COURT

John P. Walsh, J.

The respondent, before the court for a risk level determination pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act (Correction Law § 168-d [3]) (hereinafter referred to as SORA), moves for an order rejecting the recommendation of the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders (the Board) that the respondent be designated a risk level three. The respondent further seeks an order holding that he is not required to register as a sex offender. The People oppose.

On September 23, 2005, the parties appeared before the court and based on the record of that proceeding and submissions by both sides, the court makes the following findings of fact.

Findings of Fact

On November 15, 1988, the respondent was arrested in Kings County and subsequently indicted for robbery in the first degree (Penal Law § 160.15 [3]) and related offenses. On November 15, 1989, he entered a plea of guilty to attempted robbery in the first degree (Penal Law §§ 110.00, 160.15 [3]). Sentencing was scheduled for January 9, 1990, at which time the respondent failed to appear and a warrant was ordered.

Subsequent to the issuance of the Kings County warrant, the respondent was arrested in North Carolina and charged with having sexual contact with four children. On January 25, 1991, following a three-day trial, he was convicted of one count of first degree sex offense (NC Gen Stat § 14-177) and related charges and was sentenced to life in prison.

Following a second trial, he was convicted on May 23, 1991 of two counts of first degree sex offense (NC Gen Stat § 14-177) and related charges and was sentenced to two additional terms of life in prison plus 60 years.

Both convictions were based solely on testimonial evidence from the children, with no physical or medical evidence being introduced at trial.

The primary witnesses at both trials were the “victims,” namely, Curtis Moser, Louis Bennett and Joseph Doster. Each of the “victims” testified to nonconsensual penis/anal contact with the respondent. Louis Bennett testified, additionally, to observing the respondent performing anal intercourse on Todd Jahn (Todd Jahn never testified at trial due to hearing and speech disabilities. The conviction for the Jahn allegation was based [254]*254solely on the testimony of Louis Bennett). All of the complaining witnesses were under 12 years of age at the time of the alleged sexual contacts.

Fourteen additional witnesses testified at the trials to witnessing “rapes” or other sexual abuse, all of which witnesses were children of various ages.

The respondent maintained his innocence throughout his years in prison and 12 years later, in 2003, the North Carolina Center for Actual Innocence (the Center) attempted to locate and interview the children — now adults — who testified at his trial.

The Center managed to locate the three primary witnesses (Doster, Moser and Bennett) and 12 of the 14 additional witnesses, all of whom have recanted. The three primary witnesses have submitted affidavits in which they have admitted lying on the stand in order to convict someone whom rumors in the community had singled out as the “rapist.”1 The Bennett affidavit further recites that his testimony in 1991 — that he observed sexual contact between the respondent and Jahn — was also fabricated. Copies of these affidavits were submitted to the court and there is no dispute as to their authenticity nor have the People contested the accuracy of their recantations.

Based on this recanted testimony and newly discovered exculpatory evidence, the respondent’s North Carolina attorneys filed a motion for appropriate relief on July 28, 2003, seeking to exonerate the respondent. During the pendency of this motion, the North Carolina Union County District Attorney offered to consent to the convictions being vacated in return for a plea to lesser charges for which the respondent would receive a “time served” sentence.

This offer was accepted by the respondent. It is undisputed that his attorneys recommended that he accept this offer. Their fear was that they had no physical evidence to establish his innocence and that if a court did not accept the recantation testimony of the 1991 witnesses, the respondent ran the risk of not prevailing on his motion and thereby would spend the rest of his life in prison.

Accordingly, on May 24, 2004, in the Superior Court Division of the North Carolina General Court of Justice, Union County, [255]*255the District Attorney consented to the 1991 convictions being vacated (thereby reinstating the original charges) and the respondent entered a guilty plea to attempted first degree sex offense (NC Gen Stat § 14-27.4) (relating to the complainant Doster) and two counts of indecent liberties with a minor (NC Gen Stat § 14-202.1) (relating to the complainants Jahn and Bennett) with the State dismissing the remaining charges. The respondent was then sentenced to time served and waived extradition to New York State.

It should be noted that it is the practice of the North Carolina Union County Superior Court, in accepting pleas, to not obtain a factual allocution and, indeed, there is no factual allocution by the respondent. The plea transcript consists of series of preprinted questions which relate to the voluntariness and circumstances of the plea, which questions are answered with a “yes,” “no” or “N/A” being indicated in a space set aside for such answer next to each question.2 Presumably, a court clerk writes the answers to the questions. Question 14, which reads: “The prosecutor and your lawyer have informed the court that these are all the terms and conditions of your plea,” has the following statement written by, presumably, the court clerk: “Defendant pleads guilty to one count of attempted first degree sex offense [Doster] and 2 counts of Indecent Liberties with a Minor [Jahn and Bennett] [sic] State agrees to dismiss pending charges. Defendant will be sentenced to time served. Defendant agrees to waive extradition to New York.”

Note should be made regarding the respondent’s previous criminal history, in particular, a conviction in North Carolina on June 30, 1977, when the respondent was 16 years of age, by a plea of guilty to crime against nature (NC Gen Stat § 14-177) for which he served 18 months of a four-year sentence. Section 14-177 provided as follows: “If any person shall commit the crime against nature, with mankind or beast, he shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be fined or imprisoned in the discretion of the court.”

It is the defense contention that this charge was premised upon the respondent inserting a fishing pole into the rectum of a pony. To contest this fact, the People have submitted to the court a thesis entitled “Far From the Truth: Uncertain Justice in the Icemorlee Child Sex Abuse Cases” submitted by one Joshua D. Myerov, a graduate student in journalism at [256]*256the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, dated 2002, in which the student recites hearsay conversations with law enforcement agents who state that the respondent “was caught having sex with a horse” (at 3) and “Parker was there raping [the complainant’s] pony” (at 33).

The court finds as a matter of fact that the previous conviction was based on the facts as set forth by the respondent, as the People have not established by clear and convincing evidence anything to the contrary.

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

Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner
387 U.S. 136 (Supreme Court, 1967)
State v. Poe
252 S.E.2d 843 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1979)
State v. Pope
608 S.E.2d 114 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2005)
People v. Recor
663 N.E.2d 910 (New York Court of Appeals, 1996)
People v. Stevens
692 N.E.2d 985 (New York Court of Appeals, 1998)
People v. David W.
733 N.E.2d 206 (New York Court of Appeals, 2000)
People v. . Shilitano
112 N.E. 733 (New York Court of Appeals, 1916)
Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America v. Bohlinger
124 N.E.2d 110 (New York Court of Appeals, 1954)
Dairylea Cooperative, Inc. v. Walkley
339 N.E.2d 865 (New York Court of Appeals, 1975)
People v. Brown
126 A.D.2d 898 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1987)
People ex rel. Wohlford v. Warden of House of Detention for Men
184 A.D.2d 232 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1992)
People v. Recor
209 A.D.2d 831 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1994)
New York State Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders v. Ransom
249 A.D.2d 891 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1998)
O'Brien v. State of New York Division of Probation & Correctional Services
263 A.D.2d 804 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)
People v. Stamps
268 A.D.2d 886 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2000)
Vandover v. Czajka
276 A.D.2d 945 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2000)
People v. Cintron
306 A.D.2d 151 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2003)
People v. Brasier
169 Misc. 2d 337 (New York Supreme Court, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Misc. 3d 252, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-parker-nysupct-2005.