Gomez v. Griffin
| Decision Date | 26 March 2021 |
| Docket Number | 17-CV-7249 (JMA) |
| Parties | JUAN GOMEZ, Petitioner, v. THOMAS GRIFFIN, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
For Online Publication Only
Juan Gomez
Pro se Petitioner
Rosalind C. Gray, Assistant District Attorney
Suffolk County District Attorney's Office
200 Center Drive
Riverhead, NY 11901
On May 13, 2014, following a jury trial in state court, Juan Gomez ("Gomez") was convicted of one count of Murder in the Second Degree and one count of Conspiracy in the Second Degree. On June 13, 2014, Gomez was sentenced to two indeterminate sentences of twenty-five years of imprisonment to life on the Murder in the Second Degree count and eight and one third years to twenty-five years of imprisonment on the Conspiracy in the Second Degree count, with both sentences to run concurrently.
Gomez, proceeding pro se, petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, raising various grounds for relief. For the following reasons, all of Gomez's proffered grounds are either procedurally barred or without merit. Therefore, the petition is DENIED in its entirety.
The following facts are taken from the petition and the state court record.1
Leodan Bonilla ("Bonilla"), also known as "Tweety", was sixteen years old when he moved to Brentwood, New York after being born and raised in El Salvador. (Tr. 1586-1587.) Upon attending high school in Brentwood, Bonilla began associating with members of the street gang known as MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha. (Tr. 256, 276.)
MS-13 is an El Salvadorian street gang that began in California. (Tr. 216.) MS-13 is divided into cliques, typically by location, but most cliques follow the same rules. The clique that Bonilla interacted with was KLS, or Karlington Loco Salvatrucha. (Tr. 227, 494.) KLS was a new clique that grew out of ILS, or Islip Loco Salvatrucha, in early 2010. (Tr. 227, 494.) MS-13 leadership in El Salvador had ordered ILS to disband because ILS was not upholding the violent standards expected of an MS-13 clique. (Tr. 232.) ILS had previously been focused on smoking marijuana, drinking, and partying, rather than committing robberies, killing and beating rival gang members. (Tr. 227, 232, 504.)
Once ILS became KLS, the clique more strictly followed the rules established and expected by MS-13. KLS appointed a new primero and segundo cabeza, or first and second head, to act as the president and vice president of the clique. (Tr. 501, 622.) The new primero and segundo cabeza were committed to making KLS more violent like the MS-13 cliques from El Salvador. (Tr. 231, 267, 292-93, 1852-53.) As a result, KLS allowed some of the older members to retire, and younger members of ILS were allowed to join other cliques rather than stay in KLS. (Tr. 333, 1852-83, 1969.) Although some former ILS members joined other cliques, it was not uncommon for members of different MS-13 cliques to socialize or commit crimes together. (Tr. 506.)
Once formed, KLS began strict adherence to the violent rules of MS-13. For example, in order to join the clique, a new member would need to be "jumped in," meaning that the new member would be beaten by three existing gang members for thirteen seconds to ensure the new member could withstand pain. (Tr. 217, 505-506.) If a gang member did not follow the rules, they would be subjected to a beating known as a calenton, in which all the members of the clique would beat the offending member for either thirteen seconds, or an arbitrary period of time, such as the time it takes to smoke a cigarette. (Tr. 516, 318-19.) KLS also followed the rules involving cooperating with law enforcement, colloquially known as "ratting" or "snitching." (Tr. 239.) If a gang member was arrested, upon release from custody that member was required to produce what the gang referred to as "papers." (Tr. 240.) "Papers" included any documentation created after a gang member was arrested and were to be produced to gang leadership to prove that the arrested member did not speak to law enforcement about the gang. (Tr. 239-240.) If a member was found to be cooperating with law enforcement, or if the member refused to produce papers, that member could receive a "green light." (Tr. 239-240.) A green light is a death sentence. (Tr. 239.)
In April 2010, Bonilla was arrested and charged with possession of a forged instrument. (Tr. 722-23.) Bonilla later pled guilty to disorderly conduct in full satisfaction of the charges against him and served a fifteen-day sentence in jail. After serving his sentence, Bonilla was transferred to ICE custody where $5,000 bail was set, as he was not a legal United States resident. (Tr. 724-25, 1590- 91.) Bonilla's family posted bail in May 2010, and upon his release, Bonilla moved in with his brother's family. (Tr. 160, 1586, 1596-97.)
Following Bonilla's release, the KLS segundo cabeza was arrested in April 2010 for weapon and drug possession and was ultimately released from custody in July 2010. (Tr. 297.) Later, the primero cabeza of KLS was also arrested in September 2010, but was released intofederal custody on an immigration hold and was ultimately deported. (Tr. 730.) After the segundo cabeza's release, and after the primero cabeza had been arrested, the segundo cabeza began to suspect that Bonilla was a "rat." He shared his suspicions with KLS members Witness #1 and Wilmer Zuniga ("Zuniga"), also known as "Chewy", at O'Neil Park, near the Central Islip train station. (Tr. 298, 302.) Because he and the primero cabeza had been arrested, and Bonilla had been released on bail while the primero cabeza was being held on an immigration hold, he believed that Bonilla was a "snitch" and told Witness #1 and Zuniga not to speak to or hang out with Bonilla. (Tr. 304.) While Bonilla had shown his "papers" to Witness #1 after his release, the segundo cabeza believed that Bonilla was a "snitch" until he was able to see the primero cabeza's "papers." (Tr. 296, 304.) Zuniga, who was very close friends with the segundo cabeza, supported him and agreed that Bonilla was a "rat." (Tr. 305.)
The segundo cabeza continued to tell KLS members that he believed Bonilla was a rat. At one of the meetings held in October 2010, probationary KLS member Witness # 2, was present. (Tr. 310.) Juan Gomez ("Gomez"), the petitioner, also known as "Titantic", was also present at the same meeting. Gomez was a member of the Lewa clique but would frequently associate with KLS and attend their cut parties and clique meetings.2 (Tr. 269-70, 312-313, 989.)
At the October 2010 meeting, the segundo cabeza again discussed that he believed that Bonilla was a "rat," but did not have proof. (Tr. 315.) At that same meeting, Witness #1 received a calenton, a disciplinary beating, for disobeying the order to stop hanging out with Bonilla. (Tr. 308, 317-20.) Witness #1 was beaten by members of KLS for the length of time it took Gomez to smoke a cigarette. (Tr. 317-20.)
On a later date, during a phone call between the primero and segundo cabeza, they discussed again their belief that Bonilla was a "snitch." (Tr. 623-24.) KLS member Witness #3 ("") was also present and overheard the phone conversation. (Tr. 600, 623.) Witness #3 overheard that the primero cabeza saw Bonilla in immigration court, and as a result believed that the segundo cabeza "had gone to jail" because Bonilla had "ratted" on him. (Tr. 624.) Following the phone call, the segundo cabeza stated to both Witness #3 and Zuniga that Bonilla was a "rat" and that he needed to disappear. (Tr. 626.) Later, at another KLS meeting where Witness #3, Zuniga, and Gomez were present, the segundo cabeza informed the members that they had a "green light" to kill Bonilla. (Tr. 627-68.) While Witness #3 did not agree with the decision to kill Bonilla, he kept silent out of fear that he would also be killed for speaking up against the segundo cabeza. (Tr. 628-30.)
After the meeting where Bonilla was given the "green light," Gomez and Zuniga began making plans to murder him. (Tr. 1141-42.) As stated above, Witness #2 was a probationary member of KLS, and upon joining KLS, he was informed that he had three months to kill someone or risk being killed himself. (Tr. 1143.) In late fall 2010, Gomez, Zuniga, and Witness #2 were in Gomez's truck discussing killing Bonilla for being a "snitch" and Gomez and Zuniga told Witness #2 to get ready. (Tr. 1141-42.) Witness #2 understood "get ready" to mean that at some time, Gomez and Zuniga would call on Witness #2 to murder Bonilla. (Tr. 1144.) Thereafter, Witness #2 tried to avoid both Gomez and Zuniga by ignoring their calls and not answering the door to his home if he saw them parked outside. (Tr. 1144-46.)
On the evening of December 2, 2010, Gomez and Zuniga came to Witness #2's home. (Tr. 1146.) Witness #2 was home alone and saw Gomez's van in front of his house. (Tr. 1147.) Gomez came to the front door and told Witness #2 to put on double clothing because they weregoing to do it now. (Tr. 1147.) Gomez also gave Witness #2 a pair of black gloves and told him to leave his cell phone at home. (Tr. 1147-48.) Witness #2 left with Gomez and Zuniga, and Gomez drove them to an OK Petroleum gas station located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Pine Aire, where he parked behind the parking lot, outside the view of security cameras. (Tr. 815, 953, 1154, 2285- 87.)
Gomez got out of the van, and walked to the gas station's pay phone where he called Bonilla at 8:34 p.m. (Tr. 953, 1156, 2268, 2383-84.) Zuniga and Witness #2 remained in the van. While they waited for Gomez to return, Zuniga reached into his sweater and pulled out a black and silver automatic handgun and showed it to Witness #2, saying, in sum and substance, that they were going to use this to do it. (Tr. 1157-60.) Gomez then came back to the van and told Zuniga and Witness #2 they were going to pick up...
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