People v. Burns

27 A.D.2d 861, 277 N.Y.S.2d 530, 1967 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4740
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 1, 1967
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 27 A.D.2d 861 (People v. Burns) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Burns, 27 A.D.2d 861, 277 N.Y.S.2d 530, 1967 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4740 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinions

Per Curiam.

The defendant appeals from a judgment of the County Court of Sullivan County which convicted him, after a trial, of murder in the second degree. The principal issue is the voluntariness of defendant’s confession; and we consider first and in some detail the police version thereof, which follows, inasmuch as the Trial Judge and the jury apparently accepted it as substantially true. Doris Anderson, with whom defendant lived, was fatally shot between the eyes, on or about April 27, 1965. The fact of her death was not known and her body was not immediately found and on May 9, 1965, defendant was questioned as to her disappearance by officer Scherpf, a "State Police investigator, at the Monticello Police Station. According to Scherpf, defendant was asked some questions concerning the disappearance [862]*862and denied any knowledge as .to Doris’ whereabouts. Defendant had appeared at the station house voluntarily and left after the several questions were put to him. On May 10, 1965, between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., Scherpf went to the Club Paradise outside Montieello, accompanied by officer Buck, and finding defendant there asked him to accompany them to the Ferndale State Police Station and defendant agreed to go. He was not then placed under arrest. Officer Kaljian questioned defendant from about 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and during this time defendant was given some food. Thereafter Scherpf questioned defendant, starting around 10 :45 p.m., and ending around 2:00 a.m. on the next day, May 11. Defendant told of his activities on the 27th of April and said that on the morning of April 28 he left the house with Doris asleep on the couch and that he had not seen her since. 'Subsequently ¡Scherpf left the interrogation room, being relieved by Buck. Buck summoned Scherpf back at about 4:30 a.m. Both investigators were then joined by Lt. Tank of the Montieello police. At this point Scherpf informed defendant he was entitled to counsel, to which defendant replied, “ I don’t need an attorney, I want to get this off my chest and I have been upset over it the past few days and I just haven’t been right.” Thereupon defendant stated that he accidentally shot Doris when the gun went off in a scuffle between them; said that this occurred on April 27 in the evening during a heated quarrel which had its origins at the Club Paradise; that before grabbing the .22 calibre rifle Doris had tried to hit him with a whiskey bottle; and that when he jerked the gun away from Doris in her bedroom it discharged once, the bullet entering her forehead. After contemplating his course of action, defendant stuffed the body into a broom closet; cleaned up the rifle and disposed of the empty cartridge; took deceased’s dog in deceased’s ear and left it in the lobby of the Gilbert Hotel in Fallsburg; he went to his job as caddy at the Concord Golf Course (it was then 7:00 a.m.) and along the way burned bloody linens and towels which he had taken from the house. After work on the 28th, defendant returned to deceased’s house, placed her body in her ear, and finally buried it in a shallow grave off Old Bailey Road. Scherpf testified that appellant was formally placed under arrest at 4:30 a.m. and was requested to take the officers to the burial site. He complied and upon leaving the station was handcuffed for the first time. After disclosing the burial site, defendant was taken to deceased’s house where he re-enacted the event as he previously had described it. Upon the return to the State Police barracks, defendant’s statement was reduced to writing by a question and answer process, being typed as it progressed. This started about 9:00 a.m., May 11, at which time defendant had some pastry and coffee. Again defendant was advised of his right to counsel, but rejected it. By 10:30 or 11:00 a.m., the typing had been finished and the seven-page statement was complete and signed. By the time the questioning had progressed to the sixth page, however, defendant was challenged as to the truthfulness of his account of the struggle, whereupon he changed his story. In the written statement defendant says he made a mistake; that during the struggle the gun went off, the bullet hitting the wall; that he then said, “ Bitch, why do you want to shoot me, I didn’t do anything to you”; whereupon, then being possessed of the gun, he put another bullet into the chamber, and discharged the gun as he turned around to face Doris, the bullet striking her between the eyes. Although the statement was taken and completed around 11:00 A.M., defendant was not arraigned until around 2:30 p.m. There appears to be no explanation for this hiatus. Scherpf testified that neither he nor any other officer that he knew of made any threats or promises to defendant. He said that he noticed no fatigue insofar as defendant was concerned (although he may have been a bit drowsy at times) and that defendant ate when the interrogators ate. Buck, testifying as to his period alone with defendant, said that it began [863]*863about 2:30 A.m. and lasted for about two hours. Defendant told the same story he had told the day before (May 9) about not knowing how Doris disappeared, but upon being told that he was lying, defendant said, “ QIC, call your partner, I’ll tell you where she is.” At this point Scherpf was called back and defendant made his first statement (.the one shot ” or accident statement). Buck said that defendant never indicated that he wanted a lawyer. The rest of Buck’s testimony conforms generally to Scherpf’s. Lt. Yank testified that he first questioned defendant on May 8 in the street, and that at that time defendant denied knowledge of Doris Anderson’s disappearance. Lt. Yank said that on the evening of May 10 when defendant was taken to the State Police barracks he agreed to take a polygraph test after it was explained that he was free not to take it and could walk out of the room. This apparently was done in the early evening and fills the hiatus until 10:45 p.m. when Scherpf took over. Kaljian supervised the polygraph test. Yank also said that defendant partook of sandwiches and coffee in the early morning. According to Yank, defendant was sobbing at 4:30 A.M. when he finally came out with his one shot ” statement. The rest of Yank’s testimony conforms generally to Selierpf’s and Buck’s. Contesting the voluntariness of the confession, defendant testified at the Huntley hearing only. He said that he told Scherpf, when .the latter approached him on May 10 at the Club Paradise, that he had an appointment with Louis Tieger, a lawyer, and felt that he should be advised by him before accompanying Scherpf. It could well be, and doubtless was found that this claim was dissipated by the testimony of Mr. Tieger’s secretary. Defendant testified to nothing to account for the first two and one-half hours at the police barracks or until about 8:00 p.m. when he was questioned by Kaljian, apparently during the polygraph procedures. At about 10 :00 p.m. he was taken downstairs where nothing significant seems to have occurred until Scherpf began to question him, after returning him to an upstairs room at about 11:00 p.m. He said that he was then exhausted. Continuing, he said that Scherpf then left and Buck took over the questioning, in the course of which he threatened him with his revolver and otherwise, and finally recalled Scherpf, at which time, defendant asserts, he asked for and was denied counsel. Continuing, defendant did not recount his version of an accidental shooting but did tell of the visits to the burial site and to Doris’ apartment and of the return to the barracks and the recording of the questions and answers. The transcription of these he disputed in some respects, without, however, stating — or being asked—whether the statements contained the truth.

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27 A.D.2d 861, 277 N.Y.S.2d 530, 1967 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4740, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-burns-nyappdiv-1967.