People v. Gates

61 Misc. 2d 250, 305 N.Y.S.2d 583, 1969 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1026
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedDecember 2, 1969
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 61 Misc. 2d 250 (People v. Gates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York County Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Gates, 61 Misc. 2d 250, 305 N.Y.S.2d 583, 1969 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1026 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1969).

Opinion

John A. Galltjcci, J.

This is an application in the nature of a writ of error coram nobis to vacate and set aside a judgment entered in this court on the 14th day of February, 1967, convicting defendant, by a verdict of a jury, of murder in the first degree and sentencing him to life imprisonment.

Upon appeal, his conviction was affirmed by the Appellate Division (29 A D 2d 843) and by unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals (24 N Y 2d 666); and defendant now seeks postconviction relief.

Defendant claims, as the basis for this coram nobis motion, that his conviction resulted because of the improper admission into evidence on his trial of a set of fingerprints and a palm print. The palm print and one of the fingerprints matched those taken from the defendant at the time of his arrest. He contends both the fingerprints and the palm print were taken in violation of his rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States. He alleges he was arrested without probable cause, that his arrest was unlawful, that the fingerprints and the palm print were taken from him while he was illegally detained, therefore, such evidence is the product of an illegal arrest and should have' been excluded or suppressed.

The Court of Appeals in its decision (24 N Y 2d 666, 670, supra) stated: “In the light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Davis v. Mississippi (394 U. S. 721) [decided April 22, 1969], there can be no doubt that,fingerprint evidence is ‘ subject to the proscriptions of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments ’ and that such evidence is to be excluded if it be the product of an illegal arrest (394 U. S., at p. 723). However, the fact is that Gates failed to challenge the admissibility of his fingerprints on the ground that they were the fruit of an unlawful arrest either by pretrial motion to suppress — as mandated by our practice (Code Crim. Pro., § 813-c) —or by objection at the trial to their receipt. This being so, it follows that the question is not preserved for our review upon appeal from the conviction. (See People v. Friola, 11 N Y 2d 157.)

1‘ The need to voice an objection in order to raise a question such as this is demonstrated by the present case. Although the defendant now asserts that his arrest was unlawful, his failure to object to the use of the evidence on that ground, or even to intimate that such an issue was in the case, deprived the People of any opportunity to show the information in the possession of the police at the time of Gates ’ arrest. It may well be that, when the arrest was effected — though only 45 minutes after the com[252]*252mission of the crime — the police had already gathered facts, such as the defendant’s threats against his wife, which actually furnished reasonable grounds for believing that he had committed the crime. Certainly, on the basis of the record now before us, we should not presume otherwise.6 ’ ’

In footnote 6, the court said: “We need not now consider whether the defendant would be entitled to a postconviction hearing to determine the factual circumstances attending his apprehension. (Cf. Kaufman v. United States, 394 U. S. 217.) ”

The People oppose defendant’s application as being the improper .remedy for the relief sought.

It is undisputed that the objections now sought to be raised by the defendant were not asserted by him at the time of trial by means of statutory procedure, i.e., motions to suppress (Code Grim. Pro., '§>§ 813-0 to 813-i, inclusive) by objections during the conduct of the trial itself, or by motions in arrest of judgment or for a hew trial. It was not until argument before the Court of Appeals on February 27, 1969, two years after defendant’s conviction, that he, for the first time, raised the issue of alleged violation of his Federal constitutional rights and which he now claims requires that his judgment of conviction be vacated. The Court of Appeals on May 14, 1969, specifically noted both the substantive applicability of defendant’s assertions (citing Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U. S. 721, supra, decided April 22, 1969), as well as his failure to have preserved such issues for its review, and affirmed the judgment of conviction.

The fundamental issue presented, therefore, is whether defendant, having been denied State appellate relief, is now entitled to State postconviction relief upon constitutional grounds not previously preserved and/or asserted by the defendant, and the substantive applicability of which was decided following defendant’s conviction, but prior to his exhaustion of his State appellate remedies.

Inherent in defendant’s application are the converging issues and principles affecting enforcement of State procedural requirements in accordance with Federal requirements of due process under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution and a balancing of the respective rights and obligations of the People and a defendant for the orderly conducting of criminal proceedings in accordance with such requirements. In the instant proceeding, the defendant, while asserting his rights to due process under Federal requirements, has by his own lack of action and inaction, totally failed to avail himself and/or invoke-the State procedural means provided to timely assert the alleged constitutional violations. [253]*253While it is clear that State procedural requirements cannot be used as a device to bar or deny a defendant his constitutional rights and/or to preclude a review by a Federal forum of the State’s procedural requirements (Townsend v. Sain, 372 U. S. 293; Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391; Henry v. Mississippi, 379 U. S. 443), it is also recognized that procedural requirements and compliance therewith are mandatory upon a defendant seeking relief, both in Federal prosecutions (United States v. Indiviglio, 352 F. 2d 276, en banc, cert. den. 383 U. S. 907), and in State prosecutions (Henry v. Mississippi, supra), so long as a legitimate interest is .served by the procedural requirement.

In New York State, therefore, giving weight to its own legitimate interests of orderly criminal proceedings and the finality thereof, as well as to Federal requirements of due process, the general rule has been to adopt a policy of forfeiture and or waiver of certain constitutional rights where a defendant himself has failed to comply with State procedural requirements. (People v. McQueen, 18 N Y 2d 337; People v. Huntley, 15 N Y 2d 72; People v. West, 12 N Y 2d 1090; People v. Friola, 11 N Y 2d 157.) Recognition and affirmance of such policy has been accorded by the Federal courts of this district (United States v. Follette, 269 F. Supp. 627, affd. 405 F. 2d 680).

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Bluebook (online)
61 Misc. 2d 250, 305 N.Y.S.2d 583, 1969 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1026, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-gates-nycountyct-1969.