United States v. Gonzalez

421 F. Supp. 2d 727, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12438, 2006 WL 711087
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 22, 2006
Docket94 CR.134(MBM)
StatusPublished

This text of 421 F. Supp. 2d 727 (United States v. Gonzalez) 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. Gonzalez, 421 F. Supp. 2d 727, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12438, 2006 WL 711087 (S.D.N.Y. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

MUKASEY, District Judge.

Defendant Esteban Gonzalez was convicted by a jury on November 1, 1994, of possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). On November 11, 1996, Gonzalez was sentenced by the trial judge, the late Hon. Whitman Knapp of this court, principally to a 180-month term of imprisonment, although his U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range called for a sentence of 235 to 280 months. Judge Knapp gave no reason for the downward departure. On appeal by Gonzalez of his conviction and by the government of his sentence, the Court of Appeals, in an opinion reported at 110 F.3d 936 (2d Cir.1997), upheld the conviction but vacated the sentence and remanded for resentenc-ing. In September 1999, no resentencing having yet occurred, Gonzalez filed a post-conviction motion before Judge Knapp, claiming that the lawyer who represented him at trial, Pasquale (“Pat”) Stiso, had provided ineffective assistance due to a conflict of interest that arose because Stiso and Gonzalez belonged either during or before the trial to the same drug gang, the “Maisonet Organization,” headed by Francisco Maisonet. Following a lengthy if intermittent hearing, Judge Knapp denied the motion in September 2003 on grounds discussed below. United States v. Gonzalez, 285 F.Supp.2d 357 (S.D.N.Y.2003). Thereafter, the case was reassigned to my docket.

Gonzalez now moves to compel my recu-sal and the disqualification of Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard D. Owens, who has been involved in this litigation since 1994, and to set aside Judge Knapp’s determination on a variety of grounds. For the reasons explained below, the motions are denied.

I.

The facts underlying Gonzalez’s conviction, as proved at trial, were that on the evening of February 24, 1994, an off-duty police officer, Thomas Crowe, noticed Gonzalez and two others acting in a manner that drew his attention and suspicions. When Crowe identified himself and sought to investigate, Gonzalez fired a shot at him. Crowe returned fire, and saw Gonzalez and the others throw their weapons over a hedge and run away. Crowe arrested one of Gonzalez’s confederates; fellow officers arrested Gonzalez a short while later, based on Crowe’s description. See United States v. Gonzalez, 110 F.3d 936, 939-40 (2d Cir.1997).

*730 It has been acknowledged by both sides that after Gonzalez’s appeal and the government’s cross-appeal were before the Second Circuit, but before that Court’s decision, Judge Knapp suggested to a prosecutor, Richard D. Owens, that the parties resolve the matter by having the defendant withdraw his appeal in return for the government withdrawing its cross-appeal. See Government’s Memorandum of Law in Response to Defendant’s Motion to Recuse the Court, Etc. at 11. Gonzalez rejected the suggestion, although he claims now that had he known it came from Judge Knapp, his strategy would have been different.

In an application to Judge Knapp following the Circuit’s affirmance of his conviction and remand for resentencing, Gonzalez moved for a new trial pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 33, or in the alternative for post-conviction relief under both § 2255 and § 2241 of Title 28. (See Letter of Alexander E. Eisemann, Esq. to Hon. Whitman Knapp (July 18, 2003), Exhibit A to Government’s Memorandum of Law in Response to Defendant’s Motion to Vacate, Etc., Jan. 14, 2005) Gonzalez argued that (i) Stiso, who had pleaded guilty in August 1998 to a four-count information charging him with crimes related to his participation in the activities of the Maisonet Organization, had a conflict of interest with respect to Gonzalez that arose from the lawyer’s allegiance to that organization, and (ii) Sti-so’s alleged professional errors were both evidence of that conflict and independent bases in themselves for a finding of constitutionally ineffective representation. Judge Knapp ordered an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Stiso had participated in the criminal activities of the Mai-sonet Organization at or before the time he represented Gonzalez at trial, and, if so, whether such participation had resulted in ineffective assistance to Gonzalez. During the post-conviction proceeding before Judge Knapp, Gonzalez moved to add claims, including the claim that the government had withheld disclosure of certain Brady/Giglio material relating to Officer Crowe.

Following the hearing, Judge Knapp issued a written opinion in September 2003 in which he found that Gonzalez had failed to prove any of the following propositions: (i) Stiso had engaged in criminal conduct related to Maisonet before or during Gonzalez’s trial in October 1994; (ii) Stiso had participated in the criminal conduct that formed the basis for Gonzalez’s conviction; (iii) Stiso had a loyalty to Maisonet that conflicted with his duty to Gonzalez and therein labored under an actual conflict of interest; (iv) Stiso had committed professional errors that brought his representation of Gonzalez below the “objective standard of reasonableness” that measures the performance of lawyers pursuant to Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); and (v) there was a “reasonable probability that but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” id., at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052; see Gonzalez, 285 F.Supp.2d at 360. Judge Knapp declined to consider the Brady/Giglio claim referred to above.

Gonzalez, purporting to act here under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59(a), 59(e) and 60(b), attacks Judge Knapp’s September 2003 opinion on a variety of grounds. Specifically, he asserts that (i) because he had not been resentenced at the time Judge Knapp decided his application, the judge did not have jurisdiction to render a decision; (ii) Judge Knapp was mentally incompetent at the time he held the evidentiary hearing and issued the September 2003 opinion; (iii) Judge Knapp’s opinion contained numerous errors of law and fact that show Judge Knapp was incompetent and require that *731 the decision be set aside; (iv) the judge abused his discretion in failing to reach certain claims and in excluding evidence; (v) the judge incorrectly decided other issues Gonzalez had argued; (vi) the government improperly withheld evidence relating to claims that Judge Knapp rejected in the September 2003 opinion; (vii) the hearing should be reopened to allow Gonzalez to present newly discovered evidence; and (viii) Judge Knapp should have recused himself sua, sponte based on the ex parte conversation with Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Owens that forms the basis for Gonzalez’s demand that Owens be disqualified.

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Bluebook (online)
421 F. Supp. 2d 727, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12438, 2006 WL 711087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gonzalez-nysd-2006.