People v. Diaz

163 Misc. 2d 103, 618 N.Y.S.2d 1000, 1994 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 517
New York Supreme Court·Decided November 4, 1994·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Charles A. Kuffner, Jr., J.

Defendant having moved to reargue a memorandum decision of this court, the court grants reargument and recalls its decision dated September 1, 1994, submitting instead the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Defendant Diaz is charged with the murders of Angela Miranda Guzman and Julie Guzman during a robbery that occurred on April 28, 1993. The case came on before this court for the purpose of conducting a Huntley hearing.

Defendant now argues that his confession should be suppressed because it was taken in violation of his right to counsel which indelibly attached at the time of arrest because of the numerous judicial activities that preceded his being taken into custody. In addition, defendant also challenges the validity of his arrest because the police allegedly were using the parole warrant as a subterfuge to question defendant about a double homicide before his right to counsel attached [106]*106and the parole warrant, in any event, did not satisfy the requirements of Payton v New York (445 US 573). The question, apparently one of initial impression in this State, is whether a parole warrant is the functional equivalent of an arrest warrant for the purpose of a residential search.

As part of an omnibus motion counsel for defendant moved for various forms of relief, among which were included the usual panoply of pretrial constitutional litmus tests. Justice Norman Felig, in deciding that motion, granted several of the suppression-related hearings, including a Huntley, but specifically excluded Mapp and Dunaway relief.

Although the voluminous Rosario information provided counsel for defendant by the Assistant District Attorney as well as the underlying data available to the defendant himself was more than adequate to raise the specter of a Payton issue, the question was never posed in the omnibus motion. Justice Felig observed defendant failed to proffer any facts other than conclusory that the arrest was without probable cause. During the hearing which consumed two days no facts were elicited which established that the place of arrest was in fact defendant’s residence. The evidence was at best tangential but not probative. Accordingly, an oral application during the hearing seeking leave to argue the Payton question was denied.

It is axiomatic that defendant must have personal standing to assert a Payton issue and the burden of proof in that regard rests with him (People v Wesley, 73 NY2d 351; People v Jones, 182 AD2d 1066; People v Wilkerson, 108 AD2d 831). The prolific correspondence addressed to this court following the return date of the motion to reargue adequately presents the relevant legal considerations but omits to discuss this failure of proof. The residence in which defendant was arrested was never established beyond the presumptive rationale of counsel as defendant’s home or place where he had an expectation of privacy sufficient to trigger the Payton prohibitions.

On September 12, 1993 at 2:30 p.m., defendant Alex Diaz was arrested at 1640 North Albany Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, by New York City Housing Authority police officers and officers of the Chicago Police Department. At the time of the arrest a search of the dwelling did not reveal any contraband or other incriminating evidence. The arresting officers testified that defendant was advised of his Miranda rights approximately two hours after his arrest and at three later stages during his custodial interrogation at a Chicago precinct.

[107]*107The basis for defendant’s Chicago arrest was a parole warrant that had been issued in New York. Contrary to defendant’s claim, a review of the certified copy of the warrant and the court record indicate the parole warrant was in fact issued on November 17, 1992, as appears on the warrant copy and entered three days later, and not on the erroneous date of November 17, 1993. Defendant was taken to the Area 5 Station House in Chicago. He was questioned by police at about 4:40 p.m. after first being advised of his Miranda rights. The interrogation concerned the murders, as noted earlier, of two Richmond County women which occurred on April 28, 1993.

Initially, defendant gave a signed confession which he subsequently recanted. After further questioning, defendant admitted to the murders of Julie Guzman and her mother, Angela Guzman, which occurred in the course of a robbery at the victims’ home. The confession was thereafter transcribed on the consent of the defendant. An official statement was composed and signed by the defendant and the officers present during the confession. Prior to the transcription by the court reporter, defendant was again advised by the police of his Miranda rights. The defendant’s response was that he fully understood his rights and was willing to give the confession.

Throughout the custodial interrogation, defendant never mentioned that he had counsel on any pending charges and never requested an attorney. At the Huntley hearing, the arresting officers testified that defendant was in good physical and mental condition when he confessed to the crimes.

While the court cannot find any New York authority directly on point, the relevant general principles giving direction within this State as well as Federal decisional law would warrant a finding that the arrest of defendant in Chicago on a valid parole warrant was lawful and not in violation of Payton mandates. Not only was a limited search of the place of arrest permissible, there was nothing legally offensive in the search that tarnished the reliability or admissibility of the confessions taken over two hours later.

Pursuant to Executive Law § 259-c (6) "[t]he state board of parole shall * * * have the power to revoke the parole or conditional release of any person and to authorize the issuance of a warrant for the retaking of such persons.” There is no dispute that defendant violated the conditions of his parole and fled to Chicago, Illinois, after absconding from a work [108]*108release program. Since the parole authorities had reasonable cause to believe that several violations of parole existed, the State Parole Board, acting pursuant to its power authorized by Executive Law § 259-c (6), had the right to revoke the conditional release and issue a warrant for the retaking of defendant.

The lawful mandate of the parole warrant clearly established the probable cause to seize defendant and take him into custody wherever he could be found (People v Dyla, 142 AD2d 423, 429) including a residence, commercial establishment, or a public facility. The probable cause to arrest pursuant to this warrant also formed the basis for a reasonable search by the police officer when related to the parole violation or exigent circumstances (People v Huntley, 43 NY2d 175), notwithstanding the search was conducted by police officers rather than defendant’s parole officer. The court finds that the search of the dwelling was incident to this violation of parole.

In any event, no evidence was obtained from the residence in which defendant was located to complete the prohibited sequence of an unlawful seizure as well as an unlawful search. Moreover, there was nothing attendant with the arrest that would amount to an unreasonable seizure requiring the imposition of the exclusionary rule as to the subsequent confessions

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People v. Diaz, 163 Misc. 2d 103, 618 N.Y.S.2d 1000, 1994 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 517 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1994).

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