Brinson v. Walker

• Decision Date: 13 November 2008
• Docket Number: Docket No. 06-0618-pr.
• Parties: Jeremiah K. BRINSON, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Hans WALKER, Superintendent of Auburn Correctional Facility, Respondent-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

547 F.3d 387

Jeremiah K. BRINSON, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Hans WALKER, Superintendent of Auburn Correctional Facility, Respondent-Appellant.

Docket No. 06-0618-pr.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: May 27, 2008.

Decided: November 13, 2008.

Robert J. Boyle, Law Office of Robert J. Boyle, New York, NY, for Petitioner-Appellee.

Ashlyn Dannelly, Assistant Attorney General (Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Robin A. Forshaw, Deputy Solicitor General for Criminal Matters, on the brief), Office of New York State Attorney General, New York, NY, for Respondent-Appellant.

Before: KEARSE, LEVAL, and SACK, Circuit Judges.

LEVAL, Circuit Judge:

Respondent Hans Walker, Superintendent of the Auburn Correctional Facility of the State of New York, appeals from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Victor E. Bianchini, U.S.M.J.),¹ which granted a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, setting aside Petitioner Jeremiah Brinson's New York State conviction of first degree robbery and third degree criminal possession of a weapon, in violation of N.Y. Penal Law §§ 160.15(3) and 265.02(1). Before a jury in the Ontario County Court, Brinson was tried and convicted of the robbery of Jeremy Gavin. He was sentenced as a second violent felony offender² to a determinate term of eighteen years imprisonment on the robbery charge, and a five-year concurrent term for the criminal possession of a weapon charge. He appealed his conviction to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, claiming, inter alia, that the trial court had violated his rights under the Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution by prohibiting him from cross-examining his accuser regarding the accuser's racial bias as a motivation for his false accusation. The Appellate Division rejected his claim and affirmed the conviction, ruling that there was no right to cross-examine the accuser on such racial bias because it represented "general ill will" rather than "specific hostility toward defendant," and would thus have risked confusing the jury. People v. Brinson, 265 A.D.2d 879, 697 N.Y.S.2d 221, 222 (4th Dep't 1999).³ Brinson then brought this petition to set aside his conviction. The district court granted the writ, finding that the Appellate Division's ruling was an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court. We agree and affirm the grant of the writ.

Background

I. The People's Evidence Against Brinson

Jeremy Gavin, the victim of the alleged robbery, testified on the People's case to the following facts. Around 1:30 a.m. on May 28, 1997, he was walking down Main Street, in Geneva, New York, after having "a few rounds" with some friends at a local bar. Tr. 43. A black man whom he did not know approached him and asked for money. As Gavin was taking money out of his wallet to give him, the man grabbed at the wallet. Gavin tried to push him away, but ended up "sprawled out on the ground." Id. at 45. The man pulled out a "razor knife," picked up the money that had fallen out of the wallet—about sixty dollars—and walked away. When the man drew the knife from his pocket, a piece of paper fell out onto the ground. Gavin started to follow the assailant, but changed his mind because he figured it was a "lost cause" and he "didn't want to get hurt." Id. at 48. He picked up his wallet and the piece of paper the assailant had dropped, which turned out to be a Social Security card in the name of Jeremiah Brinson. Gavin was the only witness to those events, other than the robber.

About half an hour later, Gavin went to the local police station. He filed a complaint of a robbery and described the robber as a black man wearing jeans, a white sweatshirt, and a black baseball cap. Id. at 42-54. At approximately 2:30 a.m., Officer Mark Cirone of the Geneva Police Department saw Brinson about one-tenth of a mile from the scene of the robbery. Because Brinson matched the description given by Gavin, Officer Cirone took him to the police station, where, at a "show-up" identification procedure, Gavin identified him as the robber. The police found that Brinson was carrying a crack pipe and a knife. The knife matched the description Gavin had given them. Brinson had no money on him. During questioning at the police station, the police confirmed Brinson's Social Security number, and it was the same number as the one on the card that Gavin had brought into the station. Id. at 91-112.

II. The Disallowed Cross-Examination and Extrinsic Evidence of Gavin's Racial Bias

Brinson attempted at trial to develop the theory that Gavin's accusation was a deliberate lie, motivated by Gavin's racial hatred of black people. To this end, Brinson sought to cross-examine Gavin on whether he was fired from his job at the Perkins Restaurant for refusing to serve black patrons (approximately two months after the date of the alleged robbery), having told his supervisor that he would not serve "any fucking Niggers." Tr. 60. Brinson proposed to call the supervisor to testify to Gavin's words in the event Gavin denied it. In addition, Brinson proposed to call Jean Orbaker, an acquaintance of Gavin, to testify that Gavin had used a demeaning racial epithet in her presence. Tr. 122.

When Brinson's attorney undertook to cross-examine Gavin on his refusal to serve black patrons at his restaurant job, the prosecutor objected on the ground that the incident was not relevant because it occurred after the date of the alleged robbery. Id. at 61 ("Anything that happens after May 28th [the date of the incident] is not relevant."). Once it was established that Gavin's employment at the Perkins Restaurant began in July 1997, approximately two months after the incident, the court sustained the prosecutor's objection on grounds of relevance. Tr. 68. Brinson's counsel asked Gavin whether, during the incident, he had yelled at Brinson, calling him "Nigger," which Gavin denied as "absolutely a lie." Tr. 68-69.

Brinson called Gary Cornue, Gavin's supervisor at the Perkins Restaurant, to testify to Gavin's refusal to serve black customers. Once again the prosecutor objected, arguing that evidence showing Gavin's racial bias on a date subsequent to the incident was irrelevant because it would make "no showing of any racial bias whatsoever at the time of this incident," and further that the events at Perkins were "peripheral, collateral" and would require a "mini trial with respect to complainant's employment." The trial court sustained the objection and precluded Cornue's testimony. Id. at 121-22.

Brinson then sought to call Jean Orbaker, an acquaintance of Gavin, who would testify that Gavin had said to her, about a month prior to the trial (Gavin then being employed at a Rite Aid drugstore) that "all the Niggers who came into Rite Aid knew that he's the one that had accused ... Brinson." Tr. 122-23. The prosecutor objected on grounds that such testimony was "[c]ollateral, irrelevant, ... not material." Id. at 123. The court sustained the prosecutor's objection, finding the evidence "[n]ot relevant" because this evidence of subsequent racial bias was "insufficient ... to show any bias on the date involved in this crime, that being May 28th, 1997." Id.

III. Brinson's Version of Events

Brinson offered a much different version. He testified that on the night of the robbery, he saw his friends Joel Richardson and Shawn Dunson in a car, and asked them for a ride. After Brinson got in the car, a white man, who he later learned was Gavin, approached the car and asked Brinson for a "dime bag" of marijuana. Gavin got into the back seat of Richardson's car and sat next to Brinson. Brinson had removed a knife—which he testified was a "carpet cutter" knife he used at his job at the Ramada Inn—from his back pocket in order not to sit on it. Both Brinson and Gavin got out of the car at Pulteney Street. Gavin told Brinson he only had five dollars, but still wanted a "dime bag" (which costs ten dollars). Brinson told Gavin to leave him alone if he didn't have enough money. Id. at 137-43.

Brinson said he became suspicious that Gavin was a narcotics detective, and started walking away, but Gavin persisted. Brinson said to Gavin, "[Y]ou are a narc, aren't you?" Id. at 144. Gavin then yelled after him, "[Y]ou, Nigger, come here, Nigger[.]" Id. Later, after Brinson and Gavin had parted, the police pulled up to Brinson and an officer took him into custody. Id. at 143-48.

Brinson said he had lost his Social Security card about one month before the robbery, and had obtained a new one. Brinson said the card Gavin provided to the police was the one that had been missing for over a month. Id. at 150-51, 174-75.

IV. The Appellate Division Ruling

On Brinson's direct appeal following his conviction, he asserted a constitutional challenge based on the Confrontation Clause to the trial court's disallowance of his cross-examination of Gavin on Gavin's racial bias, as manifested by his refusal to serve black patrons at the restaurant. The Appellate Division upheld the trial court's ruling, but on a different ground. Whereas the trial court had barred the cross-examination (and the extrinsic evidence) on grounds of relevance, in that a showing of Gavin's subsequent bias would not show that he was biased when he accused Brinson, the Appellate Division found the proffered evidence inadmissible because it would demonstrate only "general ill will of the complainant and not his specific hostility toward defendant," so that "the risk of confusing the jury outweighed the probative value of the proof." Brinson, 697 N.Y.S.2d at 222.

V. The District Court Order Granting the Writ

In his pro se petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, among numerous other contentions, Brinson reasserted his claim that the trial court had denied his right of confrontation in restricting his...