People v. Shulman

172 Misc. 2d 535, 658 N.Y.S.2d 794, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 142
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedMarch 24, 1997
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 172 Misc. 2d 535 (People v. Shulman) 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. Shulman, 172 Misc. 2d 535, 658 N.Y.S.2d 794, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 142 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Arthur G. Pitts, J.

Defendant Robert Shulman is charged by indictment number 1112-96 with one count of murder in the first degree in violation of Penal Law § 125.27 (1) (a) (xi) and four counts of murder in the second degree. The first three counts, including the first degree murder charge, allege the murder of one Kelly Sue Bunting. The remaining counts allege the murder of an unidentified female, to whom the indictment refers as "Jane Doe”. The People have noticed their intention to seek the death penalty in the event defendant is convicted of first degree murder.

Defendant now makes the instant omnibus motion seeking various items of reliéf. The People oppose the motion. Memoranda of law have been submitted for and against. After due consideration, the motion is determined as follows:

A. Grand Jury Proceedings

Defendant requests that the court, pursuant to CPL 210.30 (2), inspect the Grand Jury minutes and dismiss the indictment for legal insufficiency of the evidence presented to the Grand Jury; that the court release the Grand Jury minutes pursuant to CPL 210.30 (3); that the People be compelled to disclose certain information pertaining to the Grand Jury proceedings by answering 65 interrogatories; and that the indictment be dismissed pursuant to CPL 210.35 as the evidence before the Grand Jury included privileged, and therefore inadmissible, matter.

This court has conducted an in camera examination of the minutes of the Grand Jury proceedings. Based upon such examination, this court finds that the evidence submitted to the Grand Jury is legally sufficient to support the counts in the indictment. (See, People v Maier, 72 AD2d 754 [2d Dept 1979].) Moreover, the legal instructions to the Grand Jury were properly recorded and legally sufficient. (See, People v Calbud, Inc., 49 NY2d 389 [1980].)

The court finds further that release of the minutes is unnecessary to assist it in making its determination (see, CPL 210.30 [2], [3]). While defendant reminds the court that defendant is the first individual in the County of Suffolk against whom the death penalty is sought, it is to be stressed that [537]*537there is no basis in this fact alone for the relief defendant seeks (see, People v Chinn, NYLJ, Nov. 19, 1996, at 31, col 3 [Onondaga County Ct, Mulroy, J.]).

Moreover, defendant states no basis, factual, statutory or otherwise, to require the People to respond to his interrogatories. These seek varied information, including whether expert witnesses testified or expert’s reports were submitted for the grand jurors’ consideration, information as to grand juror attendance and the presence of other "persons” during the proceedings. However, the proceedings of the Grand Jury are secret (CPL 190.25 [4]), and defendant’s vague references to fairness and due process are not adequate predicates for the disclosure he seeks (see, Matter of Kinsella v Andreoli, 95 Misc 2d 915 [Sup Ct, Onondaga County 1978]; see also, Matter of Grand Jury, 125 Misc 2d 918 [Sup Ct, NY County 1984]).

Finally, a review of the minutes reveals that neither records nor any other evidence obtained from defendant’s psychologist were presented for the Grand Jury’s consideration. Assuming, as defendant argues, that the District Attorney misused the subpoena process in obtaining the records, such would not be fatal to the indictment in any event as the records were not presented (see, People v Currier, 221 AD2d 805 [3d Dept 1995]; see also, People v Natal, 75 NY2d 379 [1990]). The foregoing is nevertheless without prejudice to a future application by defendant for sanctions in the event it is later determined that the subpoena process was in fact misused to obtain privileged materials (cf., People v Currier, supra, at 807).

B. Ex Post Facto Issue

Defendant next seeks dismissal of count one of the indictment which charges him with the crime of murder in the first degree in violation of Penal Law § 125.27 (1) (a) (xi). That section provides in pertinent part that a person is guilty of murder in the first degree when, with intent to cause the death of another person, he causes such death, and: "(xi) the defendant intentionally caused the death of two or more additional persons within the state in separate criminal transactions within a period of twenty-four months when committed in a similar fashion or pursuant to a common scheme or plan” (Penal Law § 125.27 [1] [a] [xi]). Pursuant to this subdivision, the first count of the indictment alleges that defendant caused the death of two additional persons within 24 months prior to the murder of Kelly Sue Bunting, the first of an unidentified female occurring on or shortly before December 7, 1994, the second of another unidentified female occurring on or shortly [538]*538before April 6, 1995. Kelly Sue Bunting, the indictment alleges, was murdered on or shortly before December 11, 1995. Section 125.27 of the Penal Law became effective on September 1,1995, postdating the murders of the two unidentified females.

Defendant’s ground for dismissal of count one is article I, § 10 of the United States Constitution which prohibits the enactment of ex post facto laws. Defendant argues that Penal Law § 125.27, as applied to him, alters to his detriment the legal consequences of acts occurring before that section’s enactment, thereby violating the constitutional prohibition against retrospective laws.

The People oppose the motion, arguing that the additional killings’ alleged function to "enhance” the sentence defendant may receive for the murder of Kelly Sue Bunting. Hence, the People argue that section 125.27, as applied to defendant, does not retrospectively increase the possible punishment for the December 7, 1994 and April 6, 1995 killings, but only for that of Bunting which occurred after enactment of the section.

The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that the Ex Post Facto Clause prohibits any penal statute which (1) punishes as a crime an act previously committed which was innocent when done, (2) makes more burdensome the punishment for a crime after its commission, or (3) deprives one charged with a crime a defense which was available by law at the time the act was committed (see, Collins v Youngblood, 497 US 37 [1990]). Excluded by definition, therefore, are those statutes which permit the enhancement of punishment for a present crime based upon a prior crime, even where the prior crime occurred before enactment of the penalty-enhancing statute (see, Gryger v Burke, 334 US 728 [1948]; McDonald v Massachusetts, 180 US 311 [1901]).

Sister States have applied this reasoning in their resolution of ex post facto challenges to capital crime statutes. For example, New Jersey’s capital murder statute permits a jury to consider a defendant’s prior murder conviction as an aggravating factor. In State v Erazo (126 NJ 112, 594 A2d 232 [1991]), defendant challenged this provision on ex post facto grounds, as his prior murder conviction predated the statute’s enactment. In rejecting defendant’s argument, the court pointed out that "[e]vidence of a prior murder is admissible under [the statute] not for the purpose of punishing defendant for that murder, but to enable the jury to determine the appropriate sentence for the present murder” (State v Erazo, supra, 126 NJ, at 134, 594 A2d, at 243). Similar statutes have [539]

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Bluebook (online)
172 Misc. 2d 535, 658 N.Y.S.2d 794, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-shulman-nycountyct-1997.