People v. Burney

169 Misc. 2d 436, 642 N.Y.S.2d 990, 1996 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 145
New York Supreme Court·Decided March 15, 1996·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Frederic S. Berman, J.

Subsequent to being sentenced as a result of a guilty plea which followed a suppression hearing, the defendant, upon learning that one of the officers testifying at the hearing had been indicted in connection with the 30th Precinct investigation, now moves to aside the judgment on the grounds of a Brady violation. This case addresses one issue: assuming that, by pleading guilty, the defendant did not forfeit the right to assert a postjudgment claim premised on an alleged violation of Brady v Maryland (373 US 83 [1963]).1 did the government’s undisclosure of information pertaining to the venal activity of a police officer who participated in the defendant’s arrest and testified in a Mapp hearing taint the guilty plea and violate Brady?

On January 5, 1994, judgment was entered against the defendant, Carolyn Burney, convicting her by guilty plea of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree. (Penal Law § 220.18.) She received a sentence of four years to life, which she is currently serving. The defendant has requested vacatur of judgment because the People allegedly withheld from her Brady material (CPL 440.10 [1] [h]), and thus violated her due process rights under both the Federal and New York Constitutions. (US Const, 14th Amend, § 1; NY Const, art I, § 6.) She contends that, had the material been disclosed, the court would not have denied her motion to suppress physical evidence and she would not have pleaded guilty. Thus, she requests that the court vacate the defendant’s conviction and reopen the Mapp hearing. In response, the People assert that they did not violate Brady and that whatever nondisclosed material which they possessed and which may fall within the scope of Brady was impeachment evidence immaterial to the Mapp hearing issues.2

[438] FACTS

The defendant was indicted for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree. (Penal Law § 220.21.) Following indictment, she filed an omnibus motion seeking, inter alia, suppression of physical evidence obtained by the police and a demand for Brady material. The demand included a general request for the prior bad acts and criminal records of all prosecution witnesses and evidence establishing their propensity for being untruthful. The defendant did not specify to which prosecution witness her Brady demand applied, nor did she advert to specific evidence of witness misdeeds or criminal conduct.

A Mapp hearing was granted. At the hearing Sergeant Anthony Cesarano of the 30th Precinct testified for the People during their case in chief. The defendant testified and in rebuttal the People called Officer Michael Walsh, also of the 30th Precinct. Cesarano stated that on November 14, 1992, while on routine patrol in the vicinity of 139th Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan, he and Walsh stopped the defendant’s car because of a traffic infraction. Ultimately, Cesarano entered the car and seized suspected narcotics therefrom. The defendant corroborated Cesarano’s and Walsh’s accounts, but differed with Cesarano regarding the circumstances of the search. Nevertheless, she admitted to possessing the seized contraband. Walsh substantiated Cesarano’s account as to the reasons for the car stop, but he did not see Cesarano conduct the subject search and seizure. Indeed, Walsh could not directly implicate the defendant in any wrongdoing. Ultimately, the suppression motion was denied.

On October 26, 1993, in the presence of and after having consulted able counsel before an allocution in compliance with Boykin v Alabama (395 US 238 [1969]), the defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily pleaded guilty to the crime with which she was charged. During the allocution, the defendant unequivocally admitted to knowingly possessing over four ounces of cocaine in her car on November 14, 1992 and that she was, in fact, guilty of this crime. On January 5, 1994, she successfully moved to withdraw her prior guilty plea and reentered a valid guilty plea to the reduced charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree. The court then imposed the sentence which she is presently serv[439] ing. When asked before the imposition of sentence if she had anything to say to the court, the defendant responded in the negative. She never communicated to the court potential trial defenses and never proclaimed her innocence before the entry of judgment.

Approximately three months later, Walsh was arrested for having engaged in corruption. Following entry of the court’s suppression order but three days prior to the defendant’s interposition of her initial guilty plea, the Official Corruption Unit of the New York District Attorney (OCU) received information that Walsh had stolen money. One week after such interposition, OCU learned that he was involved in the theft and sale of narcotics. Between December 16, 1993 and January 2, 1994, OCU received word that he was steeped in more venal activities. Consequently, Federal and State prosecutors charged him with numerous crimes and he pleaded guilty in both Federal and State courts for his transgressions. Significantly, no party here asserts that these misdeeds related to the instant matter or that Cesarano was implicated in the corruption.

In an affidavit appended to the defendant’s motion, her trial counsel stated that, prior to judgment, he had not received from the People any information regarding Walsh’s illegalities, and the prosecution does not dispute this fact. Finally, counsel stated that, had he been aware of the investigation of Walsh, he would have advised the defendant not to plead guilty.

DISCUSSION

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People v. Burney, 169 Misc. 2d 436, 642 N.Y.S.2d 990, 1996 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 145 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1996).

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