Alston v. Griffin
| Decision Date | 24 September 2014 |
| Docket Number | 12 Civ. 8092 (CS)(PED) |
| Parties | RODNEY ALSTON, Petitioner, v. THOMAS GRIFFIN, Superintendent, Eastern NY Correctional Facility, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
I. INTRODUCTION
On October 10, 2005, petitioner Rodney Alston ("petitioner" or "defendant") fatally shot Dacheau Brown outside Club Eclipse in New Rochelle, New York. On August 1, 2006, a Westchester County jury convicted petitioner of second degree murder (N.Y. Penal Law § 125.25(1)), second degree criminal possession of a weapon (N.Y. Penal Law § 265.03) and third degree criminal possession of a weapon (N.Y. Penal Law § 265.02(4). He was sentenced on September 25, 2006 to concurrent terms of twenty years to life imprisonment (murder), fifteen years imprisonment with five years post-release supervision (criminal possession second) and seven years imprisonment with three years post-release supervision (criminal possession third). Petitioner is currently incarcerated at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, New York.
Presently before this Court is petitioner's pro se Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. This petition is before me pursuant to an Order of Reference dated December 20, 2012 (Dkt. #7). For the reasons set forth below, I respectfully recommend that Your Honor deny the petition in its entirety.
II. BACKGROUND2
Thirty-three year old Dacheau Brown, nicknamed "2-5," owned a party promoting business called "Deuce Nickel Entertainment." T. 506, 509. 517.3 On Sunday, October 9, 2005, Brown arranged a party at Club Eclipse. T. 511, 517, 519. Brown's girlfriend, Keshia South, often assisted Brown at his Club Eclipse parties by collecting money at a booth near the front door. T. 517-18. On October 9, 2005, South arrived at Club Eclipse a little after 11:00 p.m. T. 517, 519. Brown was already there. T. 519-20. Anthony Bowden, the front door bouncer, arrived around midnight. T. 546-47.
Over one hundred people came to Brown's party that night (and into the next morning). T. 520. Bowden frisked everyone for contraband (particularly knives and guns) before they were allowed to enter. T. 535-36, 549. Bowden testified that he also checked everyone's identification. T. 559. Customers were allowed to enter if they were eighteen and, according to South and Bowden, were given a wrist band if they were twenty-one or older (so the bartenderknew they were old enough to drink). T. 542, 559-60. Devron Chambers testified, however, that he was at Club Eclipse on the night in question, that he had been there on one other occasion and drank alcohol even though he was underage, and that he never saw anyone checking identification at the club. T. 575, 584-85. Jack Benjamin, who was also present on the night in question, testified that he had been going to Dacheau Brown's parties every week for the past year and there was no rule about how old you had to be to drink at those parties. T. 711-12, 727-79.
Petitioner, who was eighteen, arrived at the club via taxi between 12:30-1:00 a.m.; Bowden patted him down, found no contraband and allowed him to enter. T. 549, 553, 562-63, 899-901. Upon entering the club, petitioner met up with "a lot of people," including Carlos Brickie, Rich Falkner and Ray Gilkes. T. 923. The club sold liquor by the glass and by the bottle. T. 752. Petitioner and two of his friends immediately purchased two bottles of Hennesey for $240 and started drinking. T. 902-05, 923. Five people shared in the bottles of Hennesey; both bottles were finished by the time petitioner left the club. T. 905.
Benjamin testified that he "hung out" with petitioner at the club that night and they were both drinking. T. 714. Petitioner showed him a chrome colored handgun and told Benjamin if he "had any problems," he (petitioner) was there for him. T. 714-16. Benjamin replied that he "was good" and "there was no problem." T. 716. Benjamin told Brown and Kendall Miller (Brown's business partner) that petitioner had a gun, but they did nothing. T. 726-17, 752.
By 2:30 a.m., petitioner was stumbling around and feeling drunk. T. 906. Around that time, petitioner asked Donald Evans (who was videotaping the party) to come into the bathroom and tape something. T. 671-72, 695-96. Evans filmed petitioner and four of his friends screaming and chanting and waving money around. T. 696. Petitioner had a chrome revolverand a glass of alcohol in his hands, and there was a bottle of Hennesey right behind him. T. 672, 696. According to petitioner, his friend, Jaishon Banks, gave him the gun "to use on the DVD." T. 906-07. Evans filmed petitioner opening the gun and showing the bullets inside. T. 673. Although Evans thought petitioner was "out of control" in the bathroom, wildly screaming and chanting, Evans believed petitioner was completely sober. T. 698. After Evans left the bathroom, he told Brown that petitioner had a gun. T. 677. Evans later gave the police a copy of approximately forty seconds of video showing petitioner and his friends in the bathroom. T. 694-95.
Kevin Calvin was working at the club on the night in question and first noticed petitioner standing against a wall with a group of his friends, drinking. T. 636-38. Later that night, Calvin saw petitioner in the bathroom with a group of his friends, collectively chanting, screaming and laughing while someone videotaped them. T. 656-67. Petitioner was waving around a chrome or silver revolver, saying things like "these niggers can get it" and "we get it poppin." T. 63940, 657. "Poppin" is a "common term used among inner city youth" which means "we are not afraid to do things, we'll fight, we'll shoot, we'll do whatever." T. 641. Calvin noticed the Hennesey bottle near petitioner; it appeared to Calvin that petitioner and his friends were "most likely" drunk. T. 657-58. Calvin reported to Brown that there was somebody in the bathroom with a gun; Brown responded that he already knew. T. 642.
After the filming, petitioner and his friends took the bottle of Hennesey onto the dance floor and continued drinking (shots of Hennesey). T. 908-09. Petitioner "forgot all about" the gun which he had placed in his pocket. T. 909. Benjamin saw petitioner on the dance floor throwing liquor and acting "completely out of control drunk." T. 733. Brown went to the dance floor to see what was going on. T. 744-45. Miller followed, and observed Brown arguing with acouple of people, including petitioner. T. 745. The lights came on, indicating that the party was over (at approximately 2:45 a.m.). T. 746-47. Brown escorted petitioner to the cashier's booth and told Bowden he did not want petitioner inside the rest of the night. T. 551-53. Bowden walked petitioner outside. T. 553.
Brown and the bouncers began clearing all the customers out of the club. T. 550, 747. As people filed out, Miller went outside "to get everybody clear to go home" and observed Brown arguing with petitioner and Jaishon Banks. T. 747-48. Brown told petitioner he would not be allowed in the club anymore. T. 748. Banks challenged Brown to a fist fight; Brown took off his jacket and threw it to someone, and Brown and Banks walked down the middle of the street toward Columbus Avenue. T. 556, 644-45, 684-85, 722, 749, 761, 764-65. A crowd of people followed them. T. 646, 723. Brown and Banks reached the sidewalk on the corner of Columbus Avenue and, as they squared off to fight, petitioner came out from around the corner and fired multiple gunshots from a chrome revolver. T. 557, 687, 765-70. Four bullets struck Brown. T. 871. He died later that evening at the hospital. T. 627.
Devron Chambers left Club Eclipse at the close of the party and heard gunshots as he walked to his car. T. 577-78. As Chambers was getting into his car, petitioner appeared and asked him for a ride home. T. 581-82. Petitioner's speech was heavily slurred, and Chambers believed petitioner was intoxicated. T. 586-90. Chambers drove petitioner, Jaishon Banks and Ray Gilkes home. T. 581.
Petitioner (by and through counsel) timely appealed his conviction to the Appellate Division, Second Department on the following grounds: (1) the trial court erroneously refusedto charge second degree manslaughter (Resp. Opp., Exh. 2, at 22-26);4 (2) petitioner's intoxication negated his specific intent to commit murder (id. at 27-30); and (3) petitioner was deprived of a fair trial because the trial court admitted the videotape and a letter written by petitioner into evidence (id. at 31-32). On or about January 22, 2010, petitioner filed a pro se supplemental brief in which he raised four additional arguments: (1) trial counsel was ineffective because he objected to the impeachment of a prosecution witness (Exh. 4, at 2); (2) trial counsel was ineffective because he failed to object to the prosecution's claim that petitioner's letters to his friends contained coded threats (id. at 3); (3) trial counsel was ineffective because he failed to investigate potential defense witnesses (id. at 4); and (4) the trial court erred by submitting to the jury both second degree criminal possession of a weapon and third degree criminal possession of a weapon (id. at 5).
By Decision and Order dated October 12, 2010, the Second Department affirmed petitioner's judgment of conviction. People v. Alston, 77 A.D.3d 762, 909 N.Y.S.2d 115 (2d Dep't 2010). The Appellate Division specifically held: (1) petitioner's claim regarding the trial court's refusal to charge second degree manslaughter was foreclosed by petitioner's second degree murder conviction and the jury's implicit rejection of the next lesser included offense (first degree manslaughter); (2) petitioner's claim that his intoxication negated his intent was unpreserved and, in any event, the evidence was legally sufficient to establish that he manifested the requisite criminal...
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