People v. Graham

283 A.D.2d 885, 725 N.Y.S.2d 145, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5563
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided May 31, 2001·Published·Cited by 22 cases

Opinion

—Spain, J.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the County Court of Albany County (Breslin, J.), rendered March 13, 1997, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of murder in the second degree, and (2) by permission, from an order of said court, entered April 3, 2000, which denied defendant’s motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate the judgment of conviction.

After a jury trial in early 1997, defendant was convicted of intentional second degree murder for the shooting death of Demere Hannah on the afternoon of August 22, 1995 in front of 50 Lark Street in the City of Albany. At trial, eyewitnesses testified that defendant was observed firing a gun at Hannah out of the front passenger-side window of a light brown Honda vehicle being driven by defendant’s nephew, Lee Johnson. Johnson then backed up the vehicle and defendant was observed shooting Hannah several more times. A passing taxi driver who observed the shooting reported the Honda’s license plate number to the Albany police and it was determined that the vehicle, later recovered, was owned by Johnson’s mother and regularly driven by Johnson.

Wayne Blanchard and Aleek Young testified at trial that they had observed defendant shoot Hannah out of the passenger side of the vehicle. Blanchard testified that he knew Hannah and Johnson from the neighborhood and he had known defendant approximately 10 to 15 years prior to the shooting; he first contacted police approximately seven months after the shooting — in March 1996 while incarcerated on a parole violation — and negotiated an agreement to testify at trial in exchange for his release to a long-term residential program. Young testified that, shortly before the shooting, he saw defendant — whom he knew from the streets — and Johnson at a nearby store, observed defendant flash a gun and threaten, “I’m going to get one of those Mecc Niggers [a derogatory term referring to African Americans from New York City].” Young agreed to testify at trial in exchange for a deal in which his May 1996 guilty plea to possession of a loaded gun and one-year sentence imposed thereon also satisfied a July 1996 charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.

Also testifying at trial was Jerome Walker, who testified that at approximately 6:00 p.m. on the day of the murder, he, [886]*886defendant and a mutual friend

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People v. Graham, 283 A.D.2d 885, 725 N.Y.S.2d 145, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5563 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2001).

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