People v. Rahman

155 Misc. 2d 60, 587 N.Y.S.2d 826, 1992 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 364
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 14, 1992
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 155 Misc. 2d 60 (People v. Rahman) 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. Rahman, 155 Misc. 2d 60, 587 N.Y.S.2d 826, 1992 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 364 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1992).

Opinion

[61]*61OPINION OF THE COURT

Michael A. Corriero, J.

The defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree after a jury heard evidence that he killed a young man by shooting him in the back several times. The evidence included: the testimony of an eyewitness who knew the defendant, having attended the same school with him, and who identified the defendant as the shooter; a second eyewitness who identified the defendant; a third eyewitness who described the shooter but did not identify the defendant in court, although her description matched that of the defendant; the defendant’s admission that he shot the deceased but in self-defense.

The shooting occurred in the early morning hours of December 3, 1987 in a social club in Brooklyn.

In October or November of 1988, approximately 10 months prior to the trial, the prosecution turned over to defense counsel a police report. It contained an interview with a witness who claimed he was present in the social club at the time of the shooting and who identified an individual, who was not the defendant, as the shooter. The name, address and telephone number of the witness had been redacted from the report.

Defense counsel did not make any applications with respect to this report during the 10 months prior to trial.

On August 15, 1989 the case was referred to this court for trial after both sides indicated their readiness for trial before another court. On that day during a pretrial hearing, defense counsel moved, for the first time, for the disclosure of the identity of the aforementioned witness. The court directed the prosecutor to disclose the witness’s name, address, telephone number and other contact information, to the defense counsel and also directed the prosecutor to "try and locate him”. Apparently the prosecutor in an off-the-record discussion had previously indicated to the court and defense counsel that the witness appeared to be unavailable.

The witness was not located and the trial proceeded. The court permitted the defense, however, to present evidence of the statement of the missing witness over the objection of the prosecution, in particular his identification of another person as the shooter, for the purpose of impeaching the identification of the two eyewitnesses. After the defendant’s conviction and sentence new counsel was assigned to représent the defendant. (Defendant’s trial counsel was assigned pursuant to [62]*62article 18-B of the County Law, his appellate counsel is the Legal Aid Society.)

New counsel discovered that at the time of the defendant’s trial the witness had two pending Kings County indictments; that on April 18, 1989, four months prior to defendant’s trial, the witness had entered into a "cooperation agreement” with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, to testify in a murder case unrelated to the instant case or his own pending cases. On April 27, 1989 he testified at that murder trial; on June 23, 1989, he appeared in court and pleaded guilty on a Kings County indictment; on October 15, 1989, he appeared for sentencing on his pending cases and received a sentence of probation.

None of this information was brought to the attention of the court by the prosecutor or the defense.

The primary contentions of the defense in the CPL article 440 motion are that the defendant’s due process rights were violated because: (a) the trial prosecutor defied a court directive and either willfully concealed or made no effort to obtain the presence of an informant who had identified someone other than the defendant as the perpetrator of this crime; (b) that the trial prosecutor allowed a witness to give perjured testimony concerning the informant’s credibility; (c) that the trial prosecutor made a patently false and highly misleading summation argument concerning the informant’s whereabouts.

The prosecution contends that prior to trial, the trial prosecutor made a substantial effort to locate the witness; he was unaware of the existence of the cooperation agreement; pursuant to the court’s directive he turned over to the defense the name, address, telephone number and date of birth of the witness; furthermore, at the time of the defendant’s trial, the witness was not a confidential or registered informant, nor was he under the control of the prosecution and that he was not a police informant with respect to this case; he was simply "a witness” and that the prosecution fulfilled its responsibilities with respect to this witness.

Counsel for the prosecution and defense were given an opportunity to orally argue their contentions and they have both submitted memoranda and factual affidavits, an affirmation of the trial prosecutor was also submitted. No additional hearing was deemed necessary by either counsel.

This court makes the following factual conclusions as they [63]*63relate to the issues raised by this motion: the witness possessed exculpatory information; the prosecution did not arrange for the unavailability of the witness, nor did the trial prosecutor make any deliberate misrepresentations to the court concerning the whereabouts of the witness, nor did he defy any court directive with respect to the witness or willfully conceal any information concerning the witness nor did he fail to make efforts to obtain the presence of the witness for trial.

In sum a review of the record, and memoranda of law submitted, does not lead this court to the conclusion that the trial prosecutor or the District Attorney’s Office intentionally caused the unavailability of this witness nor did they intentionally mislead the court concerning the availability of the witness.

The issue remains, however, as to the extent of the obligation of the prosecution with respect to this witness who possessed exculpatory information.

The extent of the prosecution’s duty with respect to the production of a witness or the securing of his availability at trial depends on the type of witness; a witness is categorized or typed, generally by the nature of the information he possesses and his relationship to one side or the other.

For the purpose of this discussion we will discuss three categories of witnesses.

I. A Brady witness — a witness who possesses exculpatory information. (Brady v Maryland, 373 US 83.)

II. A Goggins/Jenkins witness — a witness who is a confidential informant whose testimony is relevant to the guilt or nonguilt of the accused and who is in the employ or control of the prosecution (People v Goggins, 34 NY2d 163; People v Jenkins, 41 NY2d 307).

The court in Goggins (supra) held that the prosecution must disclose the name of an "informant” who played a material role in gathering the evidence against the accused. The court in Jenkins (supra) extended that rule to also require production of that informer witness when he was under the control of the prosecutor.

III. A witness who is neither a Brady nor Goggins/Jenkins type witness — and who is equally available or unavailable to both sides.

At early common law a prosecutor was under a duty to call all eyewitnesses to an offense (see, Note, Duty of the Prosecutor [64]*64to Call Witnesses Whose Testimony Will Help the Accused to Establish His Innocence, 1966 Wash U LQ 68, 70-71).

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Related

Matter of Rahman v. Annucci
195 N.Y.S.3d 305 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2023)
Metts v. Miller
995 F. Supp. 283 (E.D. New York, 1997)
People v. Arthur
175 Misc. 2d 742 (New York Supreme Court, 1997)
People v. Rahman
231 A.D.2d 745 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
155 Misc. 2d 60, 587 N.Y.S.2d 826, 1992 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 364, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rahman-nysupct-1992.