People v. Bentley

155 Misc. 2d 169, 587 N.Y.S.2d 540, 1992 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 394
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 17, 1992
StatusPublished

This text of 155 Misc. 2d 169 (People v. Bentley) 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
People v. Bentley, 155 Misc. 2d 169, 587 N.Y.S.2d 540, 1992 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 394 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Michael R. Juviler, J.

This is a written version of an oral decision after a hearing [170]*170on a motion to suppress a statement by the 14-year-old. defendant to two detectives. The main ground for suppression is the allegation that the defendant’s father, who knew most about the facts of the investigation, was deliberately denied access to his son and misled about his status by police deception, and that even though the defendant’s mother was present when the defendant made his statement, she also had been misled on material facts.

On this hearing, the People have the burden to show the voluntariness of the statement beyond a reasonable doubt, including all of the components of voluntariness set forth in CPL 60.45.

THE FACTS

On November 25, 1991, at the Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, a shooting incident took place, during which a student, Darryl Sharpe, was killed, and a teacher wounded. (The defendant has been indicted for murder of the student and assault of the teacher.)

Detective Curran questioned Jermaine Bentley, the defendant’s 17-year-old brother, at the precinct regarding this incident. Jermaine Bentley said that the defendant has possessed a gun and fired it.

After Jermaine Bentley gave this statement, Sally Bentley, the mother of the two young men, arrived at the precinct. Detective Curran told her that he had questioned Jermaine about the shooting and he wanted to speak to Jason about it. Curran said that a teacher and a student had been shot and both were at the hospital. Curran knew that Darryl Sharpe already had died.

At that time, the defendant, Jason Bentley, was 14 years of age. He lived at home with his parents. He had never been arrested.

At about 1:15 that afternoon, the defendant, at home, called his father, Rudolph, at a Jewish Center in Queens, where the father worked as a maintenance supervisor. The defendant said that Mrs. Bentley had instructed him to tell his father that the police had been to the Bentley home and had taken Jermaine to the precinct because something had happened in school.

When Rudolph Bentley hung up the phone, other employees told him that they had heard on the radio that a teacher at the Jefferson High School had been hurt and a student killed. [171]*171The father turned on the radio and soon heard the same report.

As a result, at 1:30 he called his home to speak to Jason again about what had happened at the school. Mrs. Bentley answered the telephone and told Mr. Bentley that the police had brought her back to the home to pick up Jason to take Jason to the precinct. Mr. Bentley said that he had heard on the radio that a teacher had been injured and a student killed at the school.

After this conversation, Rudolph Bentley became uneasy and started to cry. Within two or three minutes, he left his place of work to go to the precinct, to find out what was going on.

About one hour later, at 2:25, Detective Curran spoke to the defendant in an office on the second floor of the precinct, in the presence of Detective Wright and the defendant’s mother. Curran said that he wanted to question Jason about a shooting of a teacher and a student at the school. Mrs. Bentley said that she had heard that somebody had been killed and someone hurt, and she asked about that. Curran answered that somebody was hurt. The impression given by Curran deliberately to Jason and Sally Bentley was that no one had died.

Curran gave the defendant and his mother the complete Miranda warnings, reading them from a card. Mrs. Bentley and the defendant understood the rights as read; they said that the defendant was willing to answer questions.

Curran proceeded to interview Jason Bentley in the presence of Detective Wright and Mrs. Bentley. The defendant said that he had not possessed or fired a gun.

At about this time, 2:30, the defendant’s father arrived at the precinct, before the completion of the defendant’s next statement — the statement that is at issue in this hearing.

Many news reporters were gathered on the first floor. Rudolph Bentley went to a receptionist and told her that his two sons and his wife were there and he wanted to see them. The receptionist made a telephone call and told Rudolph Bentley that in a few minutes he would be able to go upstairs.

It is clear from the subsequent events, and I find, that the receptionist notified Detective White, a colleague of Detectives Curran and Wright in the same detective squad, that Jason Bentley’s father was downstairs, wanting to see him; Detective White, on his own initiative or on instructions from Detective Curran, deliberately kept Rudolph Bentley away, so as not to [172]*172interrupt an interrogation that was then at a crucial point and to avoid advice to the defendant from Rudolph Bentley or from a lawyer not to say anything more in the homicide investigation.

A few minutes after the receptionist made the phone call, she showed Rudolph Bentley where to go to get to the second floor. Rudolph Bentley went upstairs. At about 2:40, he reached the second floor and saw several people behind a partition. One of them, Detective White, came over. Rudolph Bentley introduced himself and said that he wanted to see his sons and his wife. White responded, "They’re not here, they’re out helping with the investigation.” This was not an inadvertent mistake, but a deliberate falsehood.

White gave Rudolph Bentley a business card with his name and Detective Wright’s name and a telephone number for Rudolph Bentley to call. The father left the precinct and went home.

At about that time, Detective Wright was telling the defendant and his mother that Jermaine had told the police that the defendant had fired a gun in the school. Wright said that it would be "better” if the defendant told "the truth.”

The two detectives then left the defendant and his mother alone for a few minutes. Upon their return, the defendant gave a new statement. At four o’clock, Curran typed it into a DD-5 police report. The defendant and his mother read that report and signed it at the bottom.

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Bluebook (online)
155 Misc. 2d 169, 587 N.Y.S.2d 540, 1992 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bentley-nysupct-1992.