People v. Watson

57 A.D.2d 143, 393 N.Y.S.2d 735, 1977 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10938
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided April 18, 1977·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinions

Hopkins, Acting P. J.

On November 14, 1973 the complainant, then aged 17, accompanied the defendant to an American Legion Hall to acquire two free dance tickets in exchange for her assistance in selling other tickets for the defendant. There, the defendant restrained the complainant in a locked room and compelled her, by threatening her with a knife, to engage in sexual intercourse with him.

The complainant, upon leaving the American Legion Hall, told her boyfriend that she had been raped. Later the same day, she submitted to interrogation by the police and a medical examination by a physician. The doctor’s diagnosis disclosed the presence of semen and a minor bruise on the complainant’s back, which the complainant attributed to the rape. Several witnesses who testified at the trial described the complainant as upset, embarrassed, and red-eyed from crying subsequent to the incident.

CONTENTIONS

The defendant raises the following arguments: (1) an erroneous charge pertaining to corroboration of the element of identity with regard to the crime of rape in the first degree became the law of the case and, consequently, such corroboration, though lacking, was necessary to convict him; (2) there was insufficient corroboration of the essential element of lack of consent with regard to the crime of rape in the first degree; (3) there was insufficient corroboration of the elements of the crimes of possession of weapons and unlawful imprisonment in the first degree; (4) the conviction of the crime of unlawful imprisonment was improper, because the proof of the elements of confinement and substantial risk of serious injury was not independent of the alleged rape; (5) the court improperly ruled to permit the prosecution’s use, on cross-examination, of a prior conviction of attempted rape in the first degree; (6) there were several instances of evidence improperly admitted by the trial court which deprived him of a fair trial; and (7) he was improperly sentenced as a second felony offender.

We affirm. The doctrine of the law of the case does not apply under the circumstances here. The only corroboration [145]*145required under the statute in the form then existing related to the elements of lack of consent and the attempt to engage in sexual intercourse (see Hechtman, Practice Commentaries, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 39, Penal Law, § 130.16), both of which were established by the proof at the trial. We find, in addition, that the defendant was accorded a fair trial and was duly sentenced.

I

LAW OF THE CASE

The Trial Judge charged the jury, without exception taken by either the prosecution or the defendant, that all of the elements of the crime of rape in the first degree, including the identity of the defendant, must be corroborated, in order to convict. This was clearly an erroneous charge. The controlling statute at the time of the commission of the crime (Penal Law, former § 130.15) required corroboration only as to the elements of the attempt to engage the victim in sexual intercourse and lack of consent. No corroboration of the identity of the defendant was then required for a charge of forcible rape.

Nevertheless, the defendant contends on this appeal for the first time that the unexcepted-to charge, although erroneous, became the law of the case. Consequently, he urges that the jury was bound to follow those instructions and that, since there was insufficient evidence in the record to corroborate the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator, his conviction must be reversed.

The law of the case has been said to be applicable to a criminal proceeding (see People v Lobel, 298 NY 243, 254, mot for rearg den 298 NY 920; People v Doyle, 304 NY 120, 121-122; People v Adams, 33 AD2d 882).

However, such cases are distinguishable from the present appeal. In Adams the Fourth Department unanimously reversed a conviction of second degree burglary for entering a dwelling at night with the intent to commit the crime of rape. The trial court had erroneously charged the jury, without exception, that the complainant’s testimony as to the elements of the crime of burglary in the second degree must be corroborated. The appellate court held that this charge became the law of the case. However, that court’s reversal was based upon the finding that there was insufficient evidence to corroborate the defendant’s intent to commit the crime of rape. Corrobora[146]*146tion of this element of the crime had properly been charged by the trial court.

Similarly, in Doyle the unexcepted-to charge, which became the law of the case, was not the basis of the court’s reversal of the conviction. In Lobel the court merely noted that where an unchallenged instruction to the jury becomes the law of the case, it must be assumed that the jury gave full heed to it in reaching its verdict.

The doctrine of the law of the case is a rule of practice reflecting an articulation of sound policy that, when an issue is once judicially determined, that determination should end the matter when the issue is later confronted by the Judges, and courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction (see, e.g., United States v United States Smelting Co., 339 US 186, 198; Telaro v Telaro, 25 NY2d 433, 437-438). However, the doctrine has no binding force on appeal, since the appellate court is not a co-ordinate, but a higher tribunal (Rager v McCloskey, 305 NY 75, 78).

Moreover, there is a distinction between the law of the case and a situation arising from the acquiscence of the parties (cf. Martin v City of Cohoes, 37 NY2d 162, 166). As was said in Martin (p 165):

"It, therefore, has at times been a source of confusion when 'law of the case’ terminology has been used in discussing nonreviewability of a point because an aggrieved party has failed to except to an adverse determination below * * * Indeed, even when no objection has been taken, our Appellate Divisions may correct errors in the exercise of their power to act 'in the interests of justice’ * * * and the 'law of the case’ could hardly have less to do with it.
"However, as here happened, parties to a civil litigation, in the absence of a strong countervailing public policy, may consent, formally or by their conduct, to the law to be applied”.

The defendant’s trial counsel did not at any time move to dismiss the indictment on the ground that the People had failed to corroborate the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator of the crime. Indeed, toward the conclusion of his summation, the defense attorney said: "[T]he question here is not the intercourse: it’s not the identification. The question is whether there was force used here, as defined by law, whether a knife was here. That’s the force they are alleging here, the knife.” Although the court sustained the prosecutor’s objection to that part of the summation, the statement is indicative of [147]*147the defendant’s acquiescence that the issue of identity was not in contest.

The colloquy among counsel to the parties and the court which preceded the Judge’s charge to the jury, contains additional references to the defendant’s acquiescence:

"the court: Do you have any other requests to charge other than what you mentioned?
"mr.

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People v. Watson, 57 A.D.2d 143, 393 N.Y.S.2d 735, 1977 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10938 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1977).

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