United States v. Barnason

852 F. Supp. 2d 367, 87 Fed. R. Serv. 836, 2012 WL 426438, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17114
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 10, 2012
DocketNo. 10 Civ. 3335
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 852 F. Supp. 2d 367 (United States v. Barnason) 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
United States v. Barnason, 852 F. Supp. 2d 367, 87 Fed. R. Serv. 836, 2012 WL 426438, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17114 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

Defendants Stanley Katz (“Stanley”) and Stephen Katz (“Stephen” and, with Stanley, the “Katz Defendants”) have filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude introduction of, or reference to, evidence of Defendant William Barnason’s (“Barnason” and, with the Katz Defendants, the “Defendants”) status as a Registered Level III sex offender, Barnason’s 1986 conviction of the crime of attempted sexual abuse in the first degree, Barnason’s conviction in 1987 of the crime of rape in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree and the acts underlying both the 1986 and 1987 convictions. The Katz Defendants have also sought to preclude introduction of evidence related to an alleged 2004 encounter between Barnason and Luz Vasquez (“Vasquez”) during which Barnason allegedly groped Vasquez.

The United States of America (the “Government”) has filed its own motion in limine to admit evidence related to Barnason’s prior sexual assaults pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 415 and 404(b). The Government seeks to admit evidence that the Katz Defendants had knowledge that Barnason is a Level III sex offender and to use Barnason’s prior sex crimes as evidence of his motivation and disposition to commit sexual assaults and his lack of effective inhibitions against acting on such impulses.

Upon the conclusions set forth below, the Plaintiffs are permitted to introduce evidence concerning Barnason’s status as a Level III sex offender, but evidence concerning the factual details underlying Bar[370]*370nasoris 1986 and 1987 convictions may not be admitted. Evidence concerning the 2004 encounter between Barnason and Vasquez is admissible.

Prior Proceedings

On April 20, 2010, the Government filed a complaint against Barnason and Stanley, seeking monetary damages, civil penalties, punitive damages, and injunctive relief to enforce the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601, et seq. The Government’s complaint alleged that Barnason, a registered Level III sex offender, was employed by Stanley as superintendent of various apartment buildings and that, during his time as superintendent, female tenants were the victims of repeated sexual harassment by Barnason and Stanley. The complaint alleged that Barnason, who has access to the tenants’ apartments, routinely demanded to have sexual relations with female tenants, and that if his sexual demands were not complied with, Barnason withheld mail delivery and apartment repairs or threatened tenants with eviction. Stanley was alleged to have been aware of Barnason’s conduct and refused to take meaningful steps to address the allegations, despite receiving multiple complaints of sexual harassment. Barnason and Stanley were both alleged to have conditioned rental fees on sexual favors to Barnason.

On July 9, 2010, Carol Engle, Virginia Moneada, Stacie Edwards-Melchor, Kimberly Smith and Amy Martlett (the “Intervenor-Plaintiffs” and, with the Government, the “Plaintiffs”) filed their intervenor complaint. The IntervenorPlaintiffs are female tenants who resided in the buildings Stanley owned where Barnason worked as the superintendent. In his answer to the Intervenor-Plaintiffs’ complaint, Stanley asserted three counterclaims against the Intervenor-Plaintiffs, including libel, destruction of property and conspiracy to defraud rent.

On December 10, 2010, Stanley filed a motion for summary judgment, contending that that prior litigation in the Housing Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York and the doctrine of res judicata precluded the Government’s case. Because res judicata had not been established, the motion was denied on June 2, 2011.

On July 28, 2011, the Government moved to amend its complaint to include Stephen Katz (“Stephen”) as a defendant. The amended complaint alleged that Stephen, the son of Stanley, became manager of the apartment buildings in July 2009, and since taking over daily management of the buildings, Stephen subjected female tenants to a hostile environment by repeatedly subjecting them to vulgar and offensive epithets because of their gender. The Government’s motion to amend was granted.

On August 3, 2011, the IntervenorPlaintiffs filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings regarding Stanley’s first and third counterclaims. On December 9, 2011, Intervenor-Plaintiffs’ motion, which was converted to a motion for summary judgment, was denied.

On December 16, 2011, both the Government and the Katz Defendants filed the instant motions in limine. The motions were heard and marked fully submitted on February 1, 2012.

The Facts

On September 16, 1986, Barnason, having been indicted for sexual abuse in the first degree, pled guilty to the crime of attempted sexual abuse in the first degree in the County Court of Suffolk County. As a result of this guilty plea, Barnason was sentenced to and indeterminate sentence of one and one-half to three years imprisonment. One year later, on Septem[371]*371ber 16, 1987, Barnason, having been charged with three counts of rape in the first degree and eight counts of sodomy in the first degree, pled guilty to three counts of rape in the first degree and one count of sodomy in the first degree in the County Court of Suffolk County. For these crimes, Barnason received an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment of ten to twenty years.

The relevant facts of the present civil case are set forth in detail in the Court’s June 2, 2011 opinion denying Stanley’s motion for summary judgment. See United States v. Katz, No. 10 Civ. 3335, 2011 WL 2175787, at *1-4 (S.D.N.Y. June 2, 2011). Familiarity with those facts is assumed.

The Applicable Standard

A. Fed.R.Evid. 415

In general, “propensity” evidence is inadmissible. See Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) (“Evidence of a crime, wrong, or other act is not admissible to prove a person’s character in order to show that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character.”). However, an exception exists for cases involving sexual abuse and child molestation. See Fed.R.Evid. 413-415; Doe ex rel. Rudy-Glanzer v. Glanzer, 232 F.3d 1258, 1267-68 (9th Cir.2000) (“Fed. R.Evid. 415 ... together with its companions Fed.R.Evid. 413 ... and Fed.R.Evid. 414 ... was passed to make an exception to Fed.R.Evid. 404(b), which imposed a blanket prohibition on propensity evidence.”) (citing U.S. v. LeCompte, 131 F.3d 767, 769 (8th Cir.1997); U.S. v.

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Bluebook (online)
852 F. Supp. 2d 367, 87 Fed. R. Serv. 836, 2012 WL 426438, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-barnason-nysd-2012.