Jackson v. Lacy

• Decision Date: 29 September 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-CV-353.,97-CV-353.
• Citation: 74 F.Supp.2d 173
• Parties: Constantine JACKSON, Petitioner, v. Peter S. LACY, Superintendent at Clinton Correctional Facility, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

Page 173

74 F.Supp.2d 173

Constantine JACKSON, Petitioner, v. Peter S. LACY, Superintendent at Clinton Correctional Facility, Respondent.

No. 97-CV-353.

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

September 29, 1999.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Constantine Jackson, Dannemora, NY, pro se.

Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General for the State of New York, Albany, NY (Jeffrey M. Dvorin, of counsel), for Defendant.

DECISION and ORDER

McAVOY, Chief Judge.

This pro se action brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 was referred by this Court to the Honorable Ralph W. Smith, United States Magistrate Judge, for a report and recommendation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and Local Rule 72.4.

Because objections have been filed, the Court has reviewed the record de novo. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). After such a review, the Court may "accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate [judge]. The [Court] may also receive further evidence or recommit the matter to the magistrate [judge] with instructions." Id.

Having considered the record de novo, the Court adopts the Report-Recommendation in its entirety for the reasons stated therein.

It is therefore,

ORDERED, that petitioner's § 2254 petition is DENIED and DISMISSED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

REPORT RECOMMENDATION AND ORDER

RALPH W. SMITH, Jr., United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter was referred to the undersigned for a Report and Recommendation by the Honorable Thomas J. McAvoy pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and Local Rule 72.4. Petitioner Constantine Jackson, an inmate in the custody of the New York State Department of Correctional Services, moves for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. In support of his application, Petitioner alleges the following:

(1) The warrantless entry into his apartment violated his constitutional right to be free from an unconstitutional search and seizure;

(2) The trial court judge improperly denied his motion to sever his trial from that of his co-defendant and improperly denied his motion to sever the counts involving injury to one victim from those involving another;

(3) The government did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed 1st degree assault and 1st degree robbery;

(4) He was deprived of his right to a fair trial due to prosecutorial misconduct;

(5) His conviction of 1st degree assault is repugnant and should be overturned;

(6) The sentence that he received is unduly harsh and excessive;

(7) He received ineffective assistance of counsel at both the trial and appellate levels; and

(8) While awaiting sentence at the county jail, he was beaten by several deputies, shackled, and suspended in an unnatural position.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court recommends that the petition be denied in its entirety.

I. Background

On June 26, 1992, an Onondaga County Grand Jury returned Indictment Nos. 92-676-1 and 92-676-2, charging Petitioner and his co-defendant, Lynn Smith, with attempted 2nd degree murder, two counts of 1st degree robbery, 1st degree assault, two counts of 2nd degree assault, and two counts of 3rd degree criminal possession of a weapon. The charges stemmed from two separate incidents during the early hours of June 17, 1992, in which Petitioner and Smith attacked and beat Diane Bonaparte, Gerry Ratliff, and Brenda Sparkes at the Graystone Apartments in Syracuse, New York.

Both Petitioner and Smith pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, and the case proceeded to trial on October 19, 1992. On October 22, 1992, the jury convicted Petitioner of 1st degree robbery, 1st degree assault, 2nd degree assault, and both counts of 3rd degree criminal possession of a weapon. On December 21, 1992, the trial court judge sentenced Petitioner to concurrent indeterminate prison terms of 7½ to 15 years for the 1st degree robbery and 1st degree assault convictions and 3½ to 7 years for the 2nd degree assault and 3rd degree criminal possession of a weapon convictions.

Petitioner subsequently appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division, Fourth Department, on the grounds that (1) the warrantless entry into his apartment violated the federal and state constitutions; (2) the trial court judge improperly denied his motion for severance from his co-defendant and between counts of the indictment; (3) the government failed to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he committed 1st degree assault and 1st degree robbery; (4) he was deprived his right to a fair trial due to prosecutorial misconduct during summation; (5) his conviction on the charge of 1st degree assault was repugnant; and (6) his sentence was harsh and excessive. By order dated April 15, 1994, the Appellate Division rejected each of Petitioner's claims and affirmed his conviction. On April 20, 1994, Petitioner filed an application to the Court of Appeals for a certificate granting leave to appeal, which was denied on August 26, 1994. This action followed.

II. Discussion

A. The Warrantless Entry into Petitioner's Apartment

Petitioner contends that the entry by two Syracuse police officers into his home without a warrant violated his right to be free from an unconstitutional search and seizure. Because Petitioner was afforded a full and fair opportunity to litigate this claim in state court, the Court rejects this contention.

In Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465, 482, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976), the Supreme Court held that, "where the State has provided an opportunity for full and fair litigation of a Fourth Amendment claim, the Constitution does not require that a state prisoner be granted federal habeas corpus relief on the ground that evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search or seizure was introduced at his trial." See also Gates v. Henderson, 568 F.2d 830, 837 (2d Cir.1977) (en banc) (reaching same conclusion). The only two exceptions to this rule occur where the state either provides no corrective procedures to redress the alleged Fourth Amendment violations or where the state has provided a corrective mechanism but the defendant was precluded from using that mechanism due to an unconscionable breakdown in the underlying process. Id. at 840.

In the present case, neither exception applies. First, the New York State Legislature has enacted N.Y.C.P.L. § 710.10 as the vehicle by which defendants may seek to redress alleged Fourth Amendment violations. Second, Petitioner in fact moved pursuant to § 710.10 to suppress the evidence obtained against him on the grounds that entry by the police into his apartment without a search warrant violated his right to be free from an unconstitutional search and seizure. The trial court judge held an evidentiary hearing on the issue and denied Petitioner's motion after finding that the officers' warrantless entry and subsequent arrest of Petitioner was justified by exigent circumstances. People v. Jackson, No. 92-676-1, 2 (N.Y. County Ct. Sept. 25, 1992). Petitioner appealed the trial court's ruling after he was convicted by a jury at trial, but the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, found that Petitioner's motion to suppress was properly denied. People v. Jackson, 203 A.D.2d 956, 957, 612 N.Y.S.2d 96, 96 (N.Y.App.Div.1994). Although Petitioner sought leave to appeal the Appellate Division's decision, the Court of Appeals denied Petitioner's request.

A review of Petitioner's case thus shows that he was provided a full and fair opportunity to litigate his Fourth Amendment claim at the state court level. Accordingly, the Court recommends that this portion of the petition be denied.

B. Petitioner's Motion to Sever

Petitioner next claims that the trial court judge improperly denied his motion to sever his trial from that of his co-defendant and to sever the counts of the indictment. The Court finds, however, that this claim is barred because the grounds raised in support thereof were not argued in the first instance before the trial court judge.

According to the adequate and independent state ground doctrine, state courts must be given "the first opportunity to address and correct alleged violations" of the prisoner's federal rights. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 731, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991). Where the state courts decline to review the prisoner's claims for failure to meet state procedural requirements, the prisoner is barred from seeking federal habeas review because the state court's decision is independent of the federal question and adequate to support the prisoner's continued custody. Id. at 729-30, 111 S.Ct. 2546 (1991) (citations omitted). See also Levine v. Commissioner of Correctional Servs., 44 F.3d 121, 126 (2d Cir.1995). The doctrine does not apply, however, when the decision of the last state court who rendered judgment in the case "`fairly appears to rest primarily on federal law, or to be interwoven with the federal law, and when the adequacy and independence of any possible state law ground is not clear from the face of the opinion.'" Coleman, 501 U.S. at 735, 111 S.Ct. 2546 (quoting Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1040-41, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983)).

In the present case, Petitioner moved pre-trial, pursuant to Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), to sever his trial from that of his co-defendant based upon the theory that both he and his co-defendant had given statements to the authorities. Petitioner further moved to sever the trial of those counts of the indictment that involved Ratliff from those that involved Bonaparte and Sparkes on the grounds that he wished to testify with regard to some, but not all, of the counts. The trial court denied Petitioner's motion, and the case proceeded to trial. After Petitioner was convicted by a jury, he appealed his conviction to the Appellate Division and argued, inter alia, that the trial court judge had improperly denied his motion to sever. On...