People v. Portner

34 Misc. 2d 769, 228 N.Y.S.2d 970, 1962 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3207
CourtNew York Court of General Session of the Peace
DecidedJune 4, 1962
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 34 Misc. 2d 769 (People v. Portner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of General Session of the Peace primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Portner, 34 Misc. 2d 769, 228 N.Y.S.2d 970, 1962 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3207 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1962).

Opinion

Thomas Dickehs, J.

The libel of accusation underlying this prosecution was laid in four counts, two for alleged acts of grand larceny in the first degree, and two for alleged acts of obtaining credit by the use of a'false statement.

The attainder by verdict rendered on December 16, 1960, before me as the Trial Judge, was founded on the two larceny counts. The trial had lasted three weeks, and, at the end, had become productive of three volumes of testimony consisting of more than 1,300 pages.

On the day of the addiction, January 27, 1961, I sentenced defendant, as a second felony offender, to State prison for a term of not less than 5 years and not more than 10 years on each larceny count; both terms, however, were made to run concurrently.

The issues defendant now raises in this coram nobis motion, dated February 19, 1962, are these: (a) “ The prosecution knowingly employed perjured testimony; The prosecution knowingly, wilfully and deliberately 1 suppressed vital material evidence ’ at the time of the trial ”; and (b) “ Defendant did not have adequate representation at the time of his said trial.”

The perjury — suppression issue under “ a, ” the subject of which defendant makes much of, consists of a difference in the date pertaining to a meeting between a lawyer — witness for the People and defendant. This witness had testified on the witness stand that the date of the meeting was some time in August, 1959. Defendant, on the other hand, contends in his petition that not until January 15,1960, had this witness laid eyes upon defendant,” and, of this disparity in time, the District Attorney had allegedly been aware, and yet, instead of having revealed the latter date, he had suppressed it.

This issue was, for the first time, raised by defendant at the time of sentence, when, in response to the allocution, he, inter alia, made this statement: “ Mr. Jasper who took the stand and said he was an attorney for thirty-five years and that I was in his office on August 23rd and August 24th, where I have proof I was in an auction sale in Rutherford, New Jersey; that I signed in on August 23rd and 24th, that I was there. And, I was never in this attorney’s office at all, as he stated.

That the first time I ever seen this man ivas in November of 1959.” (Emphasis supplied.)

The conflict' of the meeting dates, that is, the one in November of 1959, as stated by defendant at the addiction, and the other on January 15, 1960, as alleged by defendant in his petition, comes out of defendant’s own mouth, and yet, defendant, in his [771]*771petition, takes the ground of boldly assailing the lawyer — witness for the People as one who is a “ liar.” This shifting of ground by defendant, with respect to the date, from the one given at the time of sentence to the other as alleged in his petition herein, within the short interval of less than one year, has evoked serious food for thought reflecting on the credibility of defendant, with the dire result of justifiably leading me to turn the scale against him, and so, wholly to discredit him. (Cf. the following cases: People v. Tarver, 207 N. Y. S. 2d 32; People v. Ponitz, 22 Misc 2d 325; People v. Vasquez, 18 Misc 2d 614.) This is especially the case, as it is unmistakably obvious that the real date had always been a matter within the personal knowledge of defendant at the time when he alleged the date in his petition now in conflict with the date as stated by him at the time of the addiction. (See People v. Gencarelli, 15 Misc 2d 45, affd. 9 A D 2d 614, affd. 8 N Y 2d 906, cert. denied 364 U. S. 875.)

Further militating against defendant is his failure to produce a supporting affidavit from his then personal attorney (not the trial lawyer), who, he says, had accompanied him on the occasion when he met the lawyer — witness for the People, and who had also been present on the occasion when he had had a telephone conversation with an Assistant District Attorney of Queens County concerning the meeting date. (See People v. Scott, 10 N Y 2d 380; People v. Mogavero, 9 Misc 2d 197, affd. 7 A D 2d 839.)

The long and the short of this phase of the alleged issue, is that I do not, in any event, consider the question of the date of the meeting as materially bearing on the major issues as delineated by the allegations of the indictment. In my estimation, the conflict of dates amounts, in legal value, to no more than incidental evidence in conflict, and as such, is to be considered as one of the elements in passing judgment on credibility, and credibility is a subject for the jury. (People v. Fanning, 73 N. Y. S. 2d 68; People v. Bell, 31 Misc 2d 814.) On the credibility of Avitnesses as a nonsubject for coram nobis, see Frank, Coram Nobis ([1954-1960 Cum. Supp., p. 39], p. 64, n. 15, par. 2). See, also, People v. McElroy (11 A D 2d 556).

Assuming, for all that, that the question of the date is material and disregarding for the moment my adverse ruling against defendant on credibility, but instead, proceeding on the merits of the charge itself .as hurled at the District Attorney, I find no substantial facts in the petition which can be said to bolster up the charge, so that the charge could legally be said to have the power to stick. The allegation in this respect is conclusory [772]*772and bare and smacks somewhat of second-hand evidence. In such form, it is regarded in law as worthless. (People v. Scott, supra; People v. Mogavero, supra; People v. Fanning, 300 N. Y. 593; People v. White, 309 N. Y. 636, cert. denied 352 U. S. 849; People v. Pettigrew, 34 Misc 2d 114; People v. Wurzler, 280 App. Div. 1020.) For such charge to be of consequence in law, there must be a factual link to knowledge by the District Attorney. There does not appear to be any here of any essence, by a long sight. (People v. Rodriguez, 13 Misc 2d 1004, cert. dismissed 362 U. S. 984); See particularly as to perjury, People v. Lester (10 A D 2d 971). See, also, as to the effect of a defendant’s knowledge of perjured testimony and its alleged suppression, Frank, Coram Nobis ([1954-1960 Cum. Supp., p. 146], par. 5.02 [f], p. 106, n. 82.3).

The short of the matter is that both on credibility and on the merits, I do not hold with defendant on the issue under “ a.”

In support of his complaint of inadequate representation by counsel under “b,” defendant attacks the competency and the integrity of his counsel for failing to uncover the afore-mentioned alleged “ lie ” allegedly committed by the lawyer witness for the People, and for counsel’s lending, in effect, a deaf car to defendant’s wish that certain witnesses be subpoenaed.

The best answer factually of record to this criticism, is the colloquy I had with defendant, in which his response in this vein, clearly belies his present complaint:

“the court: Well, I consider Mr. Holley a very capable lawyer.

“ the defendant: I do not deny he was a capable lawyer but he couldn’t get to the witnesses. He was a sick m,an. He couldn’t run to Jersey and The Bronx and Queens and New York City to get all these witnesses in my behalf.

“ I have the subpoenas that Mr. Holley gave me in his own handwriting to get these people,

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Related

People v. Miller
36 Misc. 2d 222 (New York Supreme Court, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
34 Misc. 2d 769, 228 N.Y.S.2d 970, 1962 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-portner-nygensess-1962.