Rodriguez v. LaManna

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 4, 2021
Docket1:20-cv-07547
StatusUnknown

This text of Rodriguez v. LaManna (Rodriguez v. LaManna) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez v. LaManna, (S.D.N.Y. 2021).

Opinion

USL SUNT DOCUMENT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ELECTRONICALLY FILED SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ce wane K DATE FILED: 3/4/2021 JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ, : : 20-CV-7547 (GBD) (RWL) Petitioner, : : ORDER - against - : JAMIE LAMANNA, : Respondent. : ne ee eK ROBERT W. LEHRBURGER, United States Magistrate Judge. Respondent has filed a letter motion to dismiss the Petition as untimely as set forth in Dkt. 12. The Court accepts the letter as a limited answer to the Petition. Petitioner shall file a response, if any, by April 15, 2021. Absent a response, the Court will proceed to resolve the motion. SO ORDERED.

ROBERT W. LEHRBURGER UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE Dated: March 4, 2021 New York, New York Copies transmitted this date to all counsel of record. The Clerk’s Office is directed to mail a copy of this Order to Petitioner pro se and note service on the docket: Johnny Rodriguez DIN No. 13A4026 Downstate Correctional Facility P.O. Box F Red Schoolhouse Rd. Fishkill, NY 12524

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STATE OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES CRIMINAL APPEALS & FEDERAL HABEAS BUREAU ATTORNEY GENERAL

March 3, 2021 By ECF Hon. Robert W. Lehrburger Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse 500 Pearl Street New York, NY 10007-1312 Re: Rodriguez v. LaManna, No. 20 Civ. 7547 (GBD)(RWL) Your Honor: I represent the respondent in the above-referenced pro se § 2254 habeas action. I write to request permission to limit the answer to the issue of whether the Petition (“Pet.”) is untimely. If granted, I request that the Court accept this letter as that limited answer. As explained below, petitioner filed the Petition more than 7 months after expiration of the one-year limitations period. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). Moreover, the Petition fails to set forth circumstances under which the Petition could be timely.! In the event the Court denies this application, respondent seeks an extension of two weeks from the Court’s decision to file a complete answer. I. Procedural History On 22 separate occasions between April 2011 and March 2012, Johnny Rodriguez (“petitioner”) sold cocaine to an undercover New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) detective. For all but two of those sales, petitioner was personally present during the sale. Petitioner was also present when, in November

1 As explained in respondent’s two requests for extension (ECF #8, 10), there were significant delays obtaining the relevant state court records from the New York County District Attorney’s office. As a result, the undersigned did not receive documentation supporting the instant motion until after the most-recent extension request. 28 LIBERTY STREET, 14TH FLOOR, NEW YORK N.Y. 10005 * PHONE (212) 416-6072 * FAX (212) 416-8010 *NOT FOR SERVICE OF PAPERS http://ag.ny.gov

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2011, he sold the detective a loaded semiautomatic handgun, and when, the following month, he sold the detective a second semiautomatic handgun.

In May 2013, following a jury trial, petitioner was found guilty of 31 offenses, including two first-degree cocaine sales (Penal Law § 220.43(1)), four second-degree cocaine sales (Penal Law § 220.41(1)), one third-degree firearm sale (Penal Law § 265.11(1)), and one attempted third-degree firearm sale (Penal Law §§ 110, 265.11(1)).2 The trial court sentenced petitioner as a mandatory persistent violent felony offender to an aggregate prison term of 30 years to life, followed by 5 years’ post-release supervision (“PRS”).

Prior to perfecting a direct appeal, petitioner filed in the trial court a pro se post-conviction motion, see N.Y. C.P.L. § 440.10, alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The trial court denied the motion without a hearing in September 2016. Petitioner thereafter sought leave to appeal that denial to the Appellate Division, First Department. The First Department granted leave and consolidated that appeal with petitioner’s pending direct appeal. After petitioner perfected both appeals, the Appellate Division unanimously affirmed both the conviction and the denial of petitioner’s C.P.L. § 440.10 motion. People v. Rodriguez, 163 A.D.3d 437 (1st Dep’t 2018). Petitioner sought leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, but that Court denied the application by order dated October 18, 2018. People v. Rodriguez, 32 N.Y.3d 1067 (2018).

By papers dated January 22, 2020, which petitioner mailed to the New York County Supreme Court on January 23, 2020, petitioner moved pursuant to C.P.L. § 440.20 to vacate his 30-year sentences for first-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. A copy of that motion is attached hereto as Exhibit 1. The court denied that motion on April 20, 2020. A copy of the court’s decision is attached hereto as

2 The other convictions were on 15 counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance (Penal Law § 220.39(1)), 2 counts of second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia (Penal Law § 220.50(2)), and one count each of third- degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (Penal Law § 220.16(1)), fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance (Penal Law § 220.09(1)), second-degree criminal possession of a weapon (Penal Law § 265.03(3)), attempted second-degree criminal possession of a weapon (Penal Law §§ 110, 265.03(3)), attempted third-degree criminal possession of a weapon (Penal Law §§ 110, 265.02(1)), and resisting arrest (Penal Law § 205.30). The jury found petitioner not guilty of a single count of third-degree weapons possession. Page 3 of 5

Exhibit 2. Petitioner admittedly did not seek leave from the Appellate Division to appeal the denial of his C.P.L. § 440.20 motion. (Pet. at 7 ¶11(d)(3).)3

Petitioner filed the instant Petition on September 6, 2020. (Pet. at 24.) The Petition raises four claims: (1) a Sixth Amendment claim based on the trial court’s order closing the courtroom during the undercover NYPD detective’s testimony; (2) a claim that petitioner was entitled to an adverse inference jury instruction or other remedy based on a loss of evidence caused by Superstorm Sandy; (3) an ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim based on some, but not all, of the grounds raised in state court; and (4) an excessive sentencing claim.

II. The Petition is Clearly Untimely

Habeas petitions by those “in custody pursuant to a judgment of a State court” are subject to a one-year limitations period which, as applicable here, runs from the date on which the conviction became final “by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review.”4 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(A). Generally, this occurs when a petitioner’s time to seek direct review in the United States Supreme Court by writ of certiorari expires. See Williams v. Artuz, 237 F.3d 147, 151 (2d Cir. 2001).

Here, the New York Court of Appeals denied petitioner’s direct-appeal leave application on October 18, 2018, and petitioner did not seek certiorari from the Supreme Court. Petitioner’s state court conviction thus became final ninety days later, on January 17, 2019, when the 90-day window for seeking certiorari expired. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(A); Williams v. Artuz, 237 F.3d 147 (2d Cir. 2001); Feliciano v. Lee, 18 Civ. 9591 (GHW), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155621, at *9 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 26, 2020). His federal habeas petition was due one year after that, on January 17, 2020.

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Bluebook (online)
Rodriguez v. LaManna, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-lamanna-nysd-2021.