People v. Galuppo

98 Misc. 2d 395, 413 N.Y.S.2d 880, 1979 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2086
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 27, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 98 Misc. 2d 395 (People v. Galuppo) 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. Galuppo, 98 Misc. 2d 395, 413 N.Y.S.2d 880, 1979 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2086 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1979).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

E. Leo Milonas, J.

The defendant was indicted on October 26, 1978 for the crime of murder in the second degree. He now moves to dismiss on the ground that the evidence before the Grand Jury was insufficient to support the charge against him and that the Grand Jury proceeding was defective. The court, having examined the minutes of the Grand Jury, finds that [396]*396the evidence was adequate, and dismissal on this basis is clearly unwarranted. However, defendant’s challenge to the validity of the Grand Jury proceeding merits some discussion as it relates principally to the extent of the People’s obligation to explore before the Grand Jury possible defenses which the accused may possess, an issue which has not generally received much attention.

The facts are as follows. Shortly after midnight on October 9, 1978, the police were directed to 524 East 13th Street in connection with a reported stabbing. In a first floor rear apartment, they located the victim, who was later identified as one Marvin Williams. After participating in a search for the perpetrator, one of the officers noticed two young men at the entrance to the building, attempting to gain access. They were admitted by a tenant, whereupon one of the men, the defendant herein, approached the officer and confessed to having stabbed Williams. The defendant and his companion then led the officer to the deceased’s apartment. The defendant retrieved a bloodied knife, the weapon which he claimed having used on Williams, as well as a pistol from under the bed. The defendant made a full statement to the authorities, both at the scene and again at the hospital where he was subsequently treated for wounds presumably sustained at the hands of the deceased.

According to the defendant, Williams had, over the course of approximately six years, extorted money and personal property from him, forcing him to steal from his family and friends in order to meet those demands. Williams allegedly effected his purpose by threatening and causing physical injury to the defendant, thereby placing him in such terror that he refrained from contacting the police lest he be subjected to severe retaliation. In fact, the defendant asserts, on two separate occasions he attended school out of the city in order to escape Williams, but upon his return, the deceased found him and resumed the harassment.

On the night of the murder, Williams supposedly induced the reluctant defendant to accompany him to his apartment to help repair a door lock. Immediately upon entering the premises, Williams produced a knife and attempted to compel the defendant to perform a sexual act upon him. When the defendant resisted, he was stabbed, and the resulting injury necessitated an eight-day hospital stay. However, following the attack and not fully aware of the seriousness of his [397]*397wound, the defendant still continued to hold out against Williams. At this point, the defendant asserts, the deceased pulled a gun and held it to his head, but finally released him when he realized that the defendant was not going to give in and was, moreover, bleeding profusely.

The defendant left the building. On the street, he encountered his friend, Bobby Pages, and informed him of the attack. Pages grabbed a pipe, and the two of them went back to Williams’ apartment. After what appears to have been a brief altercation between Williams and Pages, the defendant picked up a kitchen knife and proceeded to stab the deceased. Shortly thereafter, they departed, and Pages telephoned 911 from the defendant’s home.

Based on this version of the facts, as related by the defendant to the police, the District Attorney and the Grand Jury, defense counsel sent a letter to the foreman of the Grand Jury in which he wrote that: "I am requesting on behalf of my client, John Galuppo, Jr., that in addition to the witnesses he has already mentioned who are willing to testify that they personally know of the terror, extortion and humiliation perpetrated on John Galuppo over the past six years by Marvin Williams, you hear the testimony of Doctor Kernsell, who will testify that, in his professional opinion, John Galuppo was temporarily insane at the time of the stabbing and was not responsible for his act as he lacked the ability to distinguish right from wrong at that time. In addition, he will testify that John Galuppo’s mental illness was brought about by the acts of terrorism perpetrated upon him by the said Marvin Williams.”

The District Attorney, however, advised the members of the Grand Jury that the lack of responsibility, or insanity, defense is not available before the Grand Jury. They could, if they so desired, he told them, hear defendant’s other proposed witnesses — that is, except for the psychiatrist — on the issue of justification and also for the purpose of demonstrating extreme emotional disturbance so as to determine whether manslaughter in the first degree, rather than murder in the second degree, would be the appropriate charge. The Grand Jury then voted against calling the additional witnesses requested by defendant.

Defendant’s contention that the Grand Jury proceeding was defective is predicated on a number of grounds. It is his position that the instructions provided to the Grand Jury were [398]*398inadequate and improper in that the prosecutor wrongfully stated that the psychiatric testimony offered by the defendant was not material, that he failed to charge them as to the circumstantial evidence rule relating to intent, and that he generally did not give the necessary legal instructions applicable to the case. He also argues that the Grand Jury was made to become biased, hostile and unresponsive due to the People’s policy of having it hear exclusively homicide cases. Finally, the defendant asserts that the District Attorney unfairly cross-examined him and did not examine the other witnesses with the same zeal and severity as he did the defendant.

Recently, there have been a series of cases holding that the District Attorney, as legal adviser to the Grand Jury is required, when the evidence so indicates, to charge affirmative defenses. (People v Smith, NYLJ, March 16, 1976, p 7, col 3; People v Ferrara, 82 Misc 2d 270; see, also, People v Karassik, 90 Misc 2d 839.) This court certainly concurs with the view expressed in those decisions. In the instant situation, however, the prosecutor instructed the Grand Jury on justification, an ordinary rather than an affirmative defense. He also charged extreme emotional disturbance and manslaughter in the first degree, as well as murder in the second degree. Therefore, what is involved here is not so much the adequacy of the District Attorney’s instructions, but whether it was proper for him to tell the Grand Jury that it could not consider the defense of lack of responsibility (i.e., mental disease or defect pursuant to section 30.05 of the Penal Law), thus effectively precluding the Grand Jury from hearing evidence on the matter of the accused’s defense.

Unfortunately, there appears to be little authority on the question of a defendant’s right to present his defenses before the Grand Jury and, concomitantly, the People’s responsibility to enable him to do so. In support of his argument that the prosecutor’s advice to the Grand Jury in this respect was wrongful, the defendant cites People v Dumas (51 Misc 2d 929) and People v Gibson (15 Misc 2d 642). In Gibson,

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Bluebook (online)
98 Misc. 2d 395, 413 N.Y.S.2d 880, 1979 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-galuppo-nysupct-1979.