Lopez ex rel. Lopez v. City of New York

105 F. Supp. 3d 242, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56123, 2015 WL 1954470
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedApril 29, 2015
DocketNo. 14 Civ. 3743(BMC)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 105 F. Supp. 3d 242 (Lopez ex rel. Lopez v. City of New York) 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
Lopez ex rel. Lopez v. City of New York, 105 F. Supp. 3d 242, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56123, 2015 WL 1954470 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

COGAN, District Judge.

This case is before me on defendants’ motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) in its entirety for failure to state a claim. William Lopez was convicted of the murder of a Brighton Beach crack dealer by a New York State jury in 1990. After two decades of post-conviction proceedings in state and federal court, his 23.5-year incarceration came to an end in 2013 when Judge Garaufis of this Court granted his petition for a writ of habeas corpus and ordered his release. Judge Garaufis concluded that

Lopez has been wronged by the State of New York. This wrongdoing has ranged from an overzealous and deceitful trial prosecutor; to a series of indolent and ill-prepared defense attorneys; to a bewildering jury verdict; and to the incomprehensible Justice Demarest, who [in presiding over his criminal trial] so regrettably failed time and time again to give meaningful consideration to the host of powerful arguments Lopez presented to her. The result is that a likely innocent man has been in prison for over twenty-three years.

Lopez v. Miller, 915 F.Supp.2d 373, 431 (E.D.N.Y.2013) (the “Habeas Decision”).

The issue in this case is simply whether any of the defendant Police Officers, Assistant District Attorneys, or the City of New York are liable to him for damages as a result. Among other things, plaintiff' claims that defendants’ conduct amounts to malicious prosecution under New York State law and in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and thai he was denied a fair trial by the fabrication of evidence in violation of his due process rights via § 1983. For the reasons that follow, defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.1

BACKGROUND

The facts below are deemed true for the purpose of deciding the pending motion. As an initial matter, of course, the SAC incorporates by reference the findings made by Judge Garaufis in his Habeas Decision.2 Familiarity with those findings is assumed.

The SAC further alleges the following specifics. On August 31, 1989, two men entered the Brighton Beach apartment of a crack dealer named Elvin Zorilla. One of the two men shot and killed him. EyeWitness Daisy Flores, who had a “clear look” at the shooter, described him to police on the scene as “dark, black” and approximately 6'3" tall. A sprint, report was published 11 minutes after the initial radio run, “looking for 2 male blacks.” The SAC alleges that Flores soon thereaf[245]*245ter “viewe[d] photos with negative ' results,” but does not specify whether plaintiffs photo was among them.

Plaintiff alleges that from the outset, the investigation into Zorilla’s death was conducted by defendants Boyle and Klaimitz.3 Boyle had already been “relentlessly badgering and harassing” plaintiff because plaintiff had sublet his apartment to drug dealers, and thus “[t]he investigators” (ie., Boyle and Klaimitz) “targeted” plaintiff to “take the fall” for Zorilla’s murder.

Some time after the shooting (presumably the same morning) at the NYPD’s 60th Precinct, defendants Boyle and Klaimitz questioned Annie Burnell and Edgardo Rodriguez about plaintiff. Neither Burnell nor Rodriguez were eyewitnesses, and both were at the Precinct for unrelated reasons. Burnell stated that she knew plaintiff as a drug dealer from the area, and Rodriguez described him as a 6'2" drug dealer. Rodriguez described plaintiff as “usually armed with a shotgun.”

The SAC alleges that defendant Boyle did not interview alibi witnesses proffered by plaintiff, did not follow up on a tip offered by a third party named Cesar Diaz, and did not interview Howie Sachs, the man in whose apartment the shooting occurred, and who was present immediately following the shooting.

The SAC alleges that “[defendants threatened] [Daisy] Flores [the eyewitness] with jail time if she w[ould] not positively identify [plaintiff] as the killer” and that “[w]hen that didn’t work, she was threatened with what eventually made her succumb — deportation. Her description of the perpetrators to Boyle is not of two black males, as expressed at the crime scene; it is of two males, Hispanic.” The SAC goes on to allege that Flores was then shown a photo array in which “the picture of [plaintiff] [wa]s circled” and that at that point, Flores “does what she is told” and points to his photo.4 Flores was then interviewed a third time, by defendant Klaimitz.5

According to the SAC, defendants Boyle and Klaimitz then threatened a second witness, Annie Burnell, a crack addict, with incarceration “unless [plaintiff] is positively identified as the killer.” Defendant Boyle recorded her statement on a form DD-5 informational, of which I take judicial notice.6 According to that document, Burnell stated that shortly after the shooting,

[246]*246she was approached by [plaintiff and his brother] who proceeded to engage her in conversation. At one point [plaintiff] dropped a sawed off shotgun from the front of his pants onto the floor in front of him.... [S]he bent down and looked at the gun and on the ■ side were the words pump shotgun.... [Plaintiff]' became very nervous and asked her why she spoke to the Police.... [T]hree male blacks walked by, and [plaintiff] stated to them “it’s done”.

Burnell then identified a photo of plaintiff as the man she had seen. Klaimitz then took a recorded statement from Burnell, who was never contacted, again.

• On September 5,1989, plaintiff appeared at the Precinct “after hearing he was being sought” and was not arrested. However, according to the SAC, “nearly a month after the murder ... pressure had begun to build for an arrest.” On September 29, 1989, Janet Chapman, a prostitute with a $200 a day crack habit, was arrested on unrelated charges. Defendants Boyle and Krudis told her that “[i]f you do not identify [plaintiff] as the killer, you will face prosecution, incarceration and be denied crack cocaine.” According to the . SAC, Chapman then signed a statement claiming to have partially witnessed the shooting and inculpating Lopez. She then made a photo array identification. On October 10, 1989, Chambers was arrested and incarcerated until after plaintiffs trial. On October 17, 1989, defendants Boyle and Klaim-itz executed a takeout order on plaintiff, and Chambers positively identified him in a lineup. He was indicted on October 20, 1989.

As set forth in detail in the Habeas Decision, Chapman’s testimony was central to the prosecution’s case against plaintiff. As the SAC explains, she has since recanted her testimony, stating among other things that “[although I never saw anything such as the assistant district attorney suggested, I readily agreed to make the statement because I wanted to get out of jail.” Her trial testimony also was the subject of a cooperation agreement, the existence of which defendant Allen is alleged to have withheld from the court, the jury, and plaintiffs criminal defense attorney. In addition, a jailhouse companion of Chapman’s named Earline Cafield sent a letter to the prosecuting ADAs that they received between plaintiffs conviction and sentencing. That letter informed the prosecution that Chapman had told Cafield that someone other than plaintiff was the shooter.

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105 F. Supp. 3d 242, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56123, 2015 WL 1954470, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lopez-ex-rel-lopez-v-city-of-new-york-nyed-2015.