Gilliam v. Artus

• Decision Date: 25 August 2009
• Docket Number: No. 03-CV-607.,03-CV-607.
• Citation: 653 F.Supp.2d 315
• Parties: Daniel L. GILLIAM, Sr., Petitioner, v. Dale ARTUS, Superintendent Clinton Correctional Facility, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

Page 315

653 F.Supp.2d 315

Daniel L. GILLIAM, Sr., Petitioner, v. Dale ARTUS, Superintendent Clinton Correctional Facility, Respondent.

No. 03-CV-607.

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

August 25, 2009.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Daniel L. Gilliam, Sr., Dannemora, NY, pro se.

Ashlyn Hope Dannelly, Luke Martland, Office of the State Attorney General, New York, NY, for Respondent.

ORDER

RICHARD J. ARCARA, Chief Judge.

The above-referenced case was referred to Magistrate Judge Victor E. Bianchini, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B). On June 26, 2009, Magistrate Judge Bianchini filed a Report and Recommendation, recommending that the petition for a writ of habeas corpus be dismissed.

The Court has carefully reviewed the Report and Recommendation, the record in this case, and the pleadings and materials submitted by the parties, and no objections having been timely filed, it is hereby

ORDERED, that pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), and for the reasons set forth in Magistrate Judge Bianchini's Report and Recommendation, the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is dismissed.

The Court finds that petitioner has failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right and therefore denies his motion for a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2).

The Clerk of Court shall take all steps necessary to close the case.

SO ORDERED.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

VICTOR E. BIANCHINI, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Introduction

Pro se petitioner Daniel Gilliam ("Gilliam" or "petitioner") has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his conviction on March 15, 1998, following a jury trial in New York State County Court (Chemung County), on charges of first degree manslaughter and first degree robbery. Gilliam is currently serving two concurrent terms of imprisonment of eight and one-third to twenty-five years.

This matter has been referred to the undersigned pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) for the issuance of a report and recommendation regarding the disposition of Gilliams' petition. For the reasons that follow, I recommend that the petition be dismissed.

II. Factual Background and Procedural History

A. The Trial

1. The Prosecution's Case

The conviction here at issue stems from Gilliam's involvement in the stabbing death of Richard Stalis ("Stalis") during the early morning hours of May 26, 1994. Stalis, who was a long-time acquaintance of Gilliam's, was stabbed multiple times in his home and died. Gilliam was alleged to have taken cash from Stalis, which he spent later that night on a crack-binge. Gilliam was indicted two counts of murder in the second degree (N.Y. Penal Law §§ 125.25(1) (intentional), (3) (felony)) one count of robbery in the first degree (N.Y. Penal Law § 160.15(1)). A summary of the relevant testimony from petitioner's trial follows.

Natalis Stalis ("Natalie"), the victim's fourteen-year-old daughter, testified for the prosecution that her father had a complete knife set in a butcher block in his kitchen. T. 594-95. According to Natalie, Stalis had a practice of loaning people money. T. 597.

On May 24, 1994, Gilliam and Wanda Ramsay ("Ramsay") had been over at Stalis' house for several hours. T. 897-903. Before that, Gilliam and Ramsey had bought crack and gotten high.

The next day, May 25, 1994, Stalis had cashed a check for $100 along with his payroll check ($357). T. 601-03. Ramsay saw Stalis counting his money at his house and then left at about 3:30 p.m. to go out and buy some more crack. T. 913-14. That same day, Alan Hager ("Hager") saw Gilliam and Stalis together at a supermarket, where Stalis was buying cigarettes and beer.

At about 3:30 p.m. on May 25th, Gilliam was over at the house of his girlfriend, Linda Osmun ("Osmun"). T. 834. When Osmun dropped Gilliam off at a fast-food restaurant at about 7:00 p.m., he was wearing blue sweatpants made out of a silk-like material, a dark blue jacket with his name on the back, and a baseball cap with lettering on it. T. 835.

At about 8:30 p.m., Gilliam walked into the kitchen at Chuck Clark's bar, according to cook Timothy Johnston ("Johnston"). Johnston recalled that Gilliam was wearing a dark blue coat with lettering on the left breast pocket, basketball warm-up pants, a white shirt, and a gray shirt. Johnston saw Gilliam on and off throughout the evening; at one point, petitioner asked to borrow $10, and Johnston gave him $20. According to Johnston, petitioner left sometime after 12:30 a.m. T. 652-56. At around 11:30 p.m. that night, Richard Moore ("Moore") saw Gilliam at Chuck Clark's and had loaned him $10 to play a game of pool; however, he did not stay to watch Gilliam play. Moore recalled that Gilliam was wearing dark basketball warm-up pants, a light colored t-shirt, and a hat. T. 645-46, 651. Catherine White ("White") also saw Gilliam at Chuck Clark's; she took a photograph of him. T. 1177-82. At about 1:00 a.m., Amy Jerzak ("Jerzak") observed Gilliam in the parking lot of Chuck Clark's; he did not appear intoxicated to her at that time. T. 1183-90.

Later, at about 1:30 or 2:00 a.m., Osmun (petitioner's girlfriend) awoke to find that she had a message from Gilliam stating that he was on his way home and was with Stalis. T. 839. Maureen Osier ("Osier") testified that at 2:36 a.m., she received a phone call from Gilliam stating that he was at Stalis' house. Gilliam asked Osier if she was planning to send to him the money that he owed Stalis, and requested that she speak with Stalis. Osier did so. T. 813-18.

Antoinette Brock ("Brock") sold two bags of crack cocaine to petitioner at about 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. When he arrived at her house, Brock recalled, he appeared nervous. Gilliam smoked the crack while still at Brock's house. He announced that he had $100, and also handed a $20 to Ramsey, who happened to be there as well. T. 863-66, 918-19, 975. Debra Agan ("Agan") saw Gilliam at Brock's house, purchasing crack cocaine. T. 889-93.

When Gilliam left, he was accompanied by Janice Henderson ("Henderson"). The two of them proceeded to Benjamin Lee's apartment where they smoked some more crack. Gilliam was wearing a jacket that had blood on it while they were there. T. 982, 1020-22.

After leaving Lee's apartment, Gilliam and Ramsey took a cab to Dewittsburgh for what turned out to be an unsuccessful crack run. The cabbie, William Hungerford, noticed that the $10 bill that Gilliam handed him appeared to have blood on it. T. 973-85, 1004-11. Gilliam, unaccompanied by Ramsey, returned to Lee's apartment, where he slept until morning. T. 1023-25.

At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of May 26th, Ramsey went to Stalis' apartment and found Stalis dead on his couch, with a knife sticking out of his chest. T. 915-16. Kelly Caccia ("Caccia"), the next-door neighbor, was awakened by a hysterical Ramsey knocking on her door. T. 624-26. Caccia accompanied Ramsey back to Stalis' house where she saw the body in the same condition as Ramsey had described, and the television turned on. T. 627-29, 918.

When the police arrived on the scene, they found blood on the floor and the walls. Stalis' wallet was on the coffee table with its contents strewn about the floor. Blood was also found in the bathroom, on the desk in the bedroom, and in the kitchen. A towel with blood on it was found on a chair; underneath the towel was petitioner's baseball cap. T. 1103-76. The police recovered about $190 in cash from a can in the kitchen. T. 1170.

Later that day, Investigator William Batrowny ("Inv. Batrowny") located Gilliam at his mother's house, and Gilliam agreed to go with him to the police station. Gilliam stated that he had last seen Stalis the previous Saturday, May 21st. T. 663-67. On the night of May 25th, Gilliam indicated, he had gone to McDonald's, followed by Chuck Clark's bar. He then walked to a crack-house on South Main Street, where he stayed until he went home to his mother's at about 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. T. 668-69. According to Gilliam, he was wearing white sweatpants, three t-shirts (white, red and gray), a dark blue nylon jacket, and multi-colored socks. T. 669. Gilliam turned over his clothes to the police, but the jacket did not match the description provided by other witnesses. T. 669, 674-78. When Inv. Batrowny described the jacket he believed Gilliam had been wearing the night before, Gilliam claimed that the jacket had been stolen the previous Saturday night at Chuck Clark's bar. Inv. Batrowny indicated that during their conversation Gilliam gave varying statements about whether he had been wearing a hat. After discussing some other discrepancies in Gilliam's account of his clothing, and ascertaining from petitioner's girlfriend that the jacket he had given to the police was not the same jacket that he had been wearing the night before, Inv. Batrowny read Gilliam the Miranda warnings. T. 681-84.

Gilliam continued to insist that he had last seen Stalis on May 21, when he had borrowed $40 from Stalis and spent the night on his couch. On May 25, Gilliam stated, he spent the evening at Chuck Clark's, after which he got a ride to a crack-house. T. 807-08. While there, Gilliam bought crack with the $30 he had been loaned by various individuals at Chuck Clark's, and smoked it. T. 809. Gilliam indicated that he was wearing a black baseball cap with the letter "G" on the front, a dark blue vinyl jacket with the lettering "Danny G" on the back, blue sweatpants, and white and gray t-shirts. T. 809-10. Gilliam stated that he removed the hat, jacket, and outer t-shirt when he went inside the crack-house and had forgotten to take them with him when he left. Gilliam stated that pants still had to be at his mother's house. T. 810. Gilliam signed a written statement to this effect.

Gilliam's acquaintance, Lee, consented to have the police search his apartment. In a downstairs closet, the police found the jacket petitioner had been described as wearing the night...