People v. Muniz

93 A.D.3d 871, 939 N.Y.S.2d 181
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 1, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 93 A.D.3d 871 (People v. Muniz) 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. Muniz, 93 A.D.3d 871, 939 N.Y.S.2d 181 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Peters, J.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the County Court of [872]*872Chemung County (Hayden, J.), rendered April 2, 2009, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of rape in the second degree, petit larceny and criminal mischief in the fourth degree, and (2) by permission, from an order of said court, entered November 9, 2009, which denied defendant’s motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate the judgment of conviction, without a hearing.

On the morning of June 14, 2007, Virginia Candelaria called 911 reporting that she had arrived at her apartment in the City of Elmira, Chemung County to find the victim, her roommate’s 13-year-old daughter, engaged in sexual intercourse with a man later identified as defendant, who was 37 years old at the time. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of rape in the second degree, petit larceny and criminal mischief in the fourth degree. County Court denied defendant’s pro se motion to set aside the verdict and sentenced him, as a second felony offender, to 3V2 to 7 years in prison. After it was discovered that the sentence imposed on the rape count was illegal, defendant was resentenced to an aggregate term of seven years in prison followed by five years of postrelease supervision. Defendant’s subsequent CPL 440.10 motion was denied without a hearing. He now appeals from the judgment of conviction and, by permission, from the order denying his CPL 440.10 motion.

We reject defendant’s contention that the indictment must be dismissed because he appeared before the grand jury in shackles and prison garb. Although the requisite reasonable basis for the restraint was not articulated on the record, reversal is not required since the prosecutor’s cautionary instructions to the grand jury were sufficient to dispel any potential prejudice (see People v Crumpler, 70 AD3d 1396, 1397 [2010], lv denied 14 NY3d 839 [2010]; People v Pennick, 2 AD3d 1427, 1428 [2003], lv denied 1 NY3d 632 [2004]; People v Fells, 279 AD2d 706, 708-709 [2001], lv denied 96 NY2d 758 [2001]; People v Felder, 201 AD2d 884, 885 [1994], lv denied 83 NY2d 871 [1994]). In addition, defendant’s claim that the public servant who transported him from the jail to the grand jury proceeding was not administered an oath of secrecy (see CPL 190.25 [3] [e]) is belied by the record. Accordingly, County Court properly denied defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment on these grounds.

We are similarly unpersuaded by defendant’s argument that the pretrial identification procedure used by the police was unduly suggestive. “ ‘A photo array is unduly suggestive if some characteristic of one picture draws the viewer’s attention in such a way as to indicate that the police have made a particular selection’ ” (People v Davis, 18 AD3d 1016, 1018 [2005], lv [873]*873denied 5 NY3d 805 [2005], quoting People v Yousef, 8 AD3d 820, 821 [2004], lv denied 3 NY3d 743 [2004]). Here, the array depicts individuals of similar age, appearance and physical characteristics. The officer who prepared the array testified at the Wade hearing that Candelaria and the victim were showed the array at separate times and places, that each identified defendant as the perpetrator, and that no suggestions were made regarding which photo they should choose. Defendant’s contention that his photo was taken at a slightly closer range than the others does not render the array unduly suggestive (see People v Means, 35 AD3d 975, 976 [2006], lv denied 8 NY3d 948 [2007]; People v Brown, 169 AD2d 934, 935 [1991], lv denied 77 NY2d 958 [1991]; see also People v Lawal, 73 AD3d 1287, 1288 [2010]). Nor do the discrepancies between the description provided by Candelaria and defendant’s appearance require suppression (see People v Hunter, 32 AD3d 611, 613 [2006]). Thus, County Court properly denied defendant’s motion to suppress the identifications.

Defendant’s claim that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence is also without merit. The victim testified that she met defendant, who she identified in open court, when he offered her a ride as she was walking home. At his request, she gave him her home telephone number before he dropped her off at her apartment. Two days later, he called early in the morning and asked her if anyone was home; when she said no, he asked if he could come over, and the victim told him that he could. The victim explained that after defendant arrived they began kissing and eventually moved to the bedroom where defendant “put his penis in [her] vagina.” While defendant highlights certain inconsistencies between the victim’s in-court testimony and her out-of-court statements or other evidence in the record, and stresses the fact that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was hospitalized at the time of trial, these issues were fully explored at trial and do not render her testimony incredible as a matter of law (see People v Shepherd, 83 AD3d 1298, 1299 [2011], lv denied 17 NY3d 809 [2011]; People v Stearns, 72 AD3d 1214, 1216 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 778 [2010]; People v Conklin, 63 AD3d 1276, 1277 [2009], lv denied 13 NY3d 859 [2009]). Moreover, despite defendant’s assertion to the contrary, corroboration of the victim’s testimony was not required because her incapacity to consent was a product of her age (see People v Carroll, 95 NY2d 375, 383 [2000]; People v Alford, 287 AD2d 884, 886 [2001], lv denied 97 NY2d 750 [2002]; People v Kelly, 270 AD2d 511, 512 [2000], lv denied 95 NY2d 854 [2000]).

Aside from the victim’s testimony, Candelaria testified that, [874]*874upon returning home at approximately 9:00 a.m. on the morning of the incident after working her overnight shift, she noticed that the downstairs front door was unlocked and the upstairs door to the apartment was ajar. Upon entering the inside of the apartment and hearing noise from the victim’s room, she pushed the victim’s door open and saw a man, whom she identified in court as defendant, having sex with the victim. Candelaria testified that defendant then frantically began getting dressed and, as she called 911 on her cordless telephone, defendant took the telephone from her hand, removed its battery and then pushed her away as he tried to leave. After he went down the stairs, Candelaria locked the apartment door but, unable to exit because the front door was locked, defendant came back up the stairs, pushed on the door until the lock and part of the door broke and came back into the apartment demanding that Candelaria unlock the door. Candelaria testified that she ultimately did so out of fear and that, as he was leaving, defendant took her cordless telephone with him. After defendant fled, Candelaria noticed white underwear, which she had seen defendant holding while he was attempting to exit the apartment, in a chair next to the victim’s door. One of the responding officers identified the underwear as that which he recovered from the apartment on the morning of the incident, and DNA evidence established that seminal fluid on the underwear matched the DNA of defendant.

The People also presented telephone records indicating that three calls were placed from a telephone number associated with defendant’s girlfriend to the victim’s home before 9:00 a.m. on the morning of the incident.

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Bluebook (online)
93 A.D.3d 871, 939 N.Y.S.2d 181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-muniz-nyappdiv-2012.