Camara v. Scully, 83 Civ. 9404 (RLC).

• Decision Date: 04 September 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83 Civ. 9404 (RLC).,83 Civ. 9404 (RLC).
• Citation: 624 F. Supp. 106
• Parties: Efrain Neito CAMARA, Petitioner, v. Charles SCULLY, Superintendent Green Haven Correctional Facility, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

624 F. Supp. 106

Efrain Neito CAMARA, Petitioner, v. Charles SCULLY, Superintendent Green Haven Correctional Facility, Respondent.

No. 83 Civ. 9404 (RLC).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

September 4, 1985.

Prisoners' Legal Services, New York City, for petitioner; Randolph Z. Volkell, David C. Leven, of counsel; Peggy J. Gartenbaum (law student), on the brief.

Kenneth Gribetz, Dist. Atty. of Rockland County, New York City, for respondent; John S. Edwards, Barbara Branch, of counsel.

OPINION

ROBERT L. CARTER, District Judge.

I

Petitioner, convicted of murder and conspiracy in the first degree on May 16, 1974, petitions this court for a writ of habeas corpus. The case was referred to Magistrate Ruth Washington for report and recommendation. Magistrate Washington reviewed the voluminous record of this 13 year old case, along with memoranda of law submitted by petitioner and the District Attorney of Rockland County, and filed her report and recommendation on July 8, 1985, recommending that the petition be granted. The basis for the Magistrate's determination appears to be her conclusion that there was insufficient evidence for adjudging petitioner guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the cumulative effect of a series of acts of prosecutorial misconduct so seriously and wrongfully damaged petitioner's credibility as to render the trial fundamentally unfair in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. These conclusions are contrary to those reached by the New York Court of Appeals in its review of this record. People v. Arce, 42 N.Y.2d 179, 397 N.Y.S.2d 619, 366 N.E.2d 279 (1977).

The District Attorney filed objections to the Magistrate's report on August 2, 1985. Petitioner has moved to strike the objections on the basis of untimeliness and for costs and fees incident to this motion. The motion is denied. As indicated in his affidavit, John Edwards, Executive District Attorney for Rockland County, called the court's deputy clerk on July 16, 1985, requesting an extension beyond the allotted 10 day period to file objections to the Magistrate's report. He was granted an extension until July 26, 1985. On July 25, 1985, a further extension to August 2, 1985, was granted. The objections were filed and served on August 2, 1985, and are therefore timely.

In view of the objections, the court is required to review the record de novo. Based on such review, the court declines to adopt the Magistrate's report and recommendation and concludes that the petition must be denied and dismissed.

A brief summary of the facts may be instructive. Petitioner and a codefendant, George Arce, were tried for the murder of two men. Petitioner took the witness stand as did Rafael Martinez Perez, an accomplice, who testified for the prosecution. They both agreed that early Monday morning, April 30, 1973, the two of them drove in Perez's car to Rockland County, parked at Mt. Ivy Diner adjacent to an exit of the Palisades Parkway from which they could monitor traffic going southbound on that highway. A blue Mustang, driven by John Morales, with Manuel Carrero sitting in the passenger seat, appeared. Perez and petitioner drove onto the highway in pursuit of the Mustang. Perez caused his car to collide with Morales' car. When Morales left his car, he was shot dead, and Carrero, the passenger who tried to run away, was also killed. Both also agreed that no other car or persons were involved in the incident. Perez and petitioner were apprehended by the police when attempting to leave the area on foot. The two men disagreed on the issue of culpability. Perez testified that Camara shot Morales, and at Camara's instructions, he shot Carrero. According to Camara, after the collision, Morales and Perez got into an argument. Morales drew a gun. Perez struggled with him and the gun went off, and then Perez shot Carrero.

During the trial the prosecutor sought to introduce incriminating statements made by Camara's codefendant, George Arce, who did not testify. He asked a series of objectionable questions of Camara. Camara was asked about his use of illegal drugs, to which Camara responded in the negative. The prosecutor pursued the matter by asking if he sold illegal drugs. Objections to this question was sustained. The prosecutor asked Camara whether he had told the police about the shooting when picked up. Objection to that question was sustained, although the objection to a similar question by codefendant Arce's counsel had been overruled, and petitioner had responded in the negative.

The prosecutor on cross-examination asked Camara whether he wanted to know exactly what Perez was saying to the District Attorney so that he could work out a plea and say the same thing Perez was saying and say the same thing when Camara testified against Arce. After a bench conference, the question was withdrawn and the court instructed the jury to disregard it. The prosecutor also made some inflammatory remarks on summation, but petitioner made no objection to these remarks.

This case was appealed to the Appellate Division, Second Department and affirmed with one judge dissenting. 50 A.D.2d 932, 377 N.Y.S.2d 201 (2d Dep't.1975). Judge Margett in dissent found the "comments made by the prosecutor during summation were so prejudicial as to deprive defendant of a fair trial". Id., 377 N.Y.S.2d at 202. The case was appealed to the Court of Appeals and affirmed without dissent. People v. Arce, supra, 42 N.Y.2d 179, 397 N.Y.S.2d 619, 366 N.E.2d 279 (1977).

II

After conviction in a criminal case, a reviewing court is required to consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. United States v. Ayala, 769 F.2d 98, 103 (2d Cir.1985); United States v. Esdaille, 769 F.2d 104, 108 (2d Cir.1985); United States v. Borello, 766 F.2d 46 (2d Cir.1985); United States v. Singh, 628 F.2d 758 (2d Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1034, 101 S.Ct. 609, 66 L.Ed.2d 496 (1980). Moreover, the same rule applies when reviewing a habeas corpus petition of a defendant in state custody. The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution. Mallette v. Scully, 752 F.2d 26, 32-33 (2d Cir.1984). The Magistrate failed to apply this standard. On the contrary, she considered the evidence in the light most favorable to petitioner, as if she were considering a motion to dismiss or motion for acquittal at the close of the prosecution's case and before conviction. In applying the wrong yardstick, she committed plain error.

A federal court on a petition for writ of habeas corpus may interfere in state criminal proceedings only to correct errors of constitutional dimension, Wainwright v. Goode, 464 U.S. 78, 83, 104 S.Ct. 378, 382, 78 L.Ed.2d 187 (1983); Engle v. Isaacs, 457 U.S. 1141, 102 S.Ct. 2976, 73 L.Ed.2d 1361 (1982); Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 102 S.Ct. 940, 71 L.Ed.2d 78 (1982), and in ruling on the petition, the federal reviewing court is not to overturn a factual conclusion of a state court unless the conclusion is not "fairly supported by the record." Wainwright v. Goode, supra, 464 U.S. at 83, 104 S.Ct. at 382, quoting from Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 545-547, 101 S.Ct. 764, 768-769, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981).

This case has been considered and examined fully by three state courts. The New York State Court of Appeals, unlike the Magistrate, found "overwhelming proof to contradict" defendant's story that he was an innocent bystander. People v. Arce, supra 42 N.Y.2d at 186, 397 N.Y.S.2d at 622, 366 N.E.2d at 282. It cited the testimony of Henry Goldman and Rocco Marino as contradicting defendant's version of the facts. It relied on the testimony of a Felix Burgos, whose testimony the Magistrate discounts as tainted, and Burgos' fiancee, Minerva Cuadro, who testified that they had seen Arce, Perez and Camara together the night before the killings, in contradiction to Camara's testimony that he had never met Arce until after his arrest. The car identified by those two witnesses as the one in which they had seen Arce and Camara was identified as a vehicle rented by Arce.

The Magistrate sets forth these findings in her report. Then adds "According to petitioner's counsel, however, the record shows that Goldman ... did not see someone specifically inspecting the rear of the car." Report and Recommendation at 14. She further adds: "Counsel points out that the record indicated witness Marino saw nothing relevant to petitioner's alleged involvement in the crime and that therefore his testimony was not confirmatory." Id. The Magistrate found the Court of Appeals' reliance on the testimony of Felix Burgos, a friend of codefendant Arce for ten years, to support its finding that the evidence established petitioner's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, suspect because of Burgos' own interest in not being prosecuted. Further, the Magistrate considered the testimony of Cuadro, relied on by the Court of Appeals, inadequate because such reliance occurred two years after Cuadro recanted her testimony concerning the points the Court of Appeals recited. Id. 14-15. This approach was error.

The testimony of Goldman and Marino can readily be read as...