Maldonado v. Greiner
| Decision Date | 28 October 2003 |
| Docket Number | 01 Civ. 0799 (KMW) (AJP). |
| Parties | CHARLES MICHAEL MALDONADO, Petitioner, v. CHARLES GREINER, Superintendent, Greenhaven Correctional Facility, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Charles Michael Maldonado, represented by counsel, petitions for a writ of habeas corpus from his September 5, 1996 conviction in Supreme Court, Bronx County, of second degree murder and sentence of twenty years to life imprisonment. (Dkt. No. 1: Pet. ¶¶ 1-4, 6.) Maldonado alleges that: (A) his conviction was based on a violation of his privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and Miranda (Dkt. No. 1: Pet. ¶ 12(A)); (B) his "conviction was based upon his coerced confession" (Pet. ¶ 12(B)); (C) his "conviction was based upon his 'involuntary confession'" and he was "denied the right to a proper pretrial hearing on the issue" (Pet. ¶ 12(C)); and (D) under the "totality of the circumstances," his conviction was "based on statements that were not provided voluntarily" (Pet. ¶¶ 12(D)). Maldonado argues that the claims asserted in paragraphs 12(B)-(D) of the petition were not raised on direct appeal "due to the ineffective assistance of appellate counsel." (Pet. ¶ 13.) Maldonado's claims come down to challenges to the admission of his confessions at trial as "involuntary" (psychologically coerced) and in violation of his Miranda rights, with the voluntariness claim reviewed via a claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.
For the reasons set forth below, Maldonado's petition should be DENIED.
On February 16, 1994, Linda Padilla was strangled and her body placed in the trash compactor at 3333 Henry Hudson Parkway in the Bronx. (Ex. 1: Maldonado 1st Dep't Br. at 2, 14; Trial Transcript ("Tr.") 101-02, 276-77, 339, 343, 383.)1 At the time, Maldonado was 19 years-old and lived in the apartment with Padilla, her boyfriend Harvey Wessler, and Maylene Perez (Maldonado's 15-year old girlfriend). (E.g., Dkt. No. 7: Maldonado Reply Br. at 1, ¶ 1; Dkt. No. 5: State Br. at 3.)
On August 1 and 5, 1996, a combined Huntley/Dunaway hearing2 was held in Supreme Court, Bronx County, to determine whether statements that Maldonado made both before and after receiving his Miranda warnings would be admissible at trial. 3 Detective Joseph Flannino, "the detective in charge of this investigation" (Flannino: H. 50), testified at the suppression hearing for the State, and Maylene Perez, Maldonado's girlfriend, testified for the defense (Perez: H. 164-65).
On February 18, 1994, Detective Flannino and another detective responded to a call that a woman was found in a trash compactor at 3333 Henry Hudson Parkway. (Flannino: H. 6.) The detectives arrived in the "basement compactor room" around 8:45 a.m. (Flannino: H. 6-7, 49, 52.) At 9:15 a.m in the compactor room, Detective Flannino spoke with Harvey Wessler, whom he described as "the acquaintance or the boyfriend of Ms. Padilla, and . . . also a friend who looked after or took care of Mr. Maldonado." (Flannino: H. 8-9.) Around 9:35 a.m., Wessler identified the victim as Linda Padilla. (Flannino: H. 9.) Wessler explained that Padilla had been staying at his apartment, as was Maldonado and Maldonado's girlfriend, Perez, who was nine months pregnant. (H. 10.) Wessler consented to a search of his apartment. (Flannino: H. 11, 52-53, 57).
"[F]our or five" police officers entered the apartment with Wessler "[s]hortly after 10 o'clock." (Flannino: H. 57, 58.) The police found Maldonado and Perez "sound asleep in the living room area." (Flannino: H. 12, 58.) Maldonado "had . . . a little bit of difficulty in just waking up" and was "rather groggy." (Flannino: H. 14, 39.) Because "it took a little while" to wake up Maldonado, his "first contact with the police was sometime around 10:15 to 10:20." (Flannino: H. 58-59.) Detective Flannino believed Maldonado "was a little irritated until Mr. Wessler calmed things down and explained . . . the police were here and why they were there." (Flannino: H. 14, 59.) Maldonado "was a little agitated . . . about being startled under those circumstances, being surrounded by police officers." (Flannino: H. 60.) Maldonado and Perez got dressed. (Flannino H. 14.) It was "quite obvious" to Detective Flannino that Perez was "nine months pregnant" and "by all appearances ready to give birth at any time." (Flannino: H. 65.)
At Detective Flannino's request, Maldonado, Perez, and Wessler agreed to go to the 50th Precinct Detective Squad Office. (Flannino: H. 15.) Detective Flannino wanted them to speak to them at the precinct "just to be able to understand what happened and could have happened at the location." (Flannino: H. 15.) At this time, none of the three individuals were "in custody in connection with the investigation" or "restrained in any way." (Flannino: H. 16.) Detective Flannino was not present when Officers Hennelly and Parmely drove them to the precinct "between 10:30 and 11" a.m. (Flannino: H. 61-62.) Detective Flannino remained at the apartment building and returned to the precinct "around 12 o'clock." (Flannino: H. 61, 64.)
When Detective Flannino arrived at the precinct, Maldonado "was sitting in a corner of the 50 Detective Squad office," Perez was "[i]n the opposite corner" of the room, and Wessler was in a third corner. (Flannino: H. 64-66.) Detective Flannino testified that although Maldonado, Perez, and Wessler "were free to leave at any time" (Flannino: H. 67, 106), none of them asked to leave the precinct after they were interviewed (Flannino: H. 81-82). Detective Flannino "[a]bsolutely [did] not" do or say "anything that suggested to them that they weren't free to leave." (Flannino: H. 82.) "The three parties . . . never left . . . the precinct, because at that point they were periodically being spoken to or interviewed." (Flannino: H. 24.)
During their time in the precinct, Maldonado, Wessler, and Perez "were all separate in various corners of the office." (Flannino: H. 22, 100.) The individuals were kept separated because the officers "didn't want any of the parties talking to each other to possibly come up with a story." (Flannino: H. 100.) During the course of the day, when Maldonado and Perez would try to speak to each other or blow kisses to each other, the police (Flannino: H. 135.) However, Detective Flannino acknowledged that he would not have been aware of any conversation that took place while he was in the interview room with Wessler (Flannino: H. 135), but "to the best of [his] knowledge" no conversation took place "between either Harvey Wessler [and] Charles Maldonado, or Maylene Perez and Charles Maldonado." (Flannino: H. 69.)
Maldonado's First Statement: 1:05 p.m.4
Around 1:05 p.m., Detective Flannino spoke to Maldonado at the precinct "within the Anti-crime office, which is located right off [the] Detective Squad office." (Flannino: H. 17.) Detective Flannino did not "advise him of . . . the Miranda Warnings prior to this . . . initial interview," which lasted "fifteen, twenty minutes or so." (Flannino: H. 18, 21-22, 46.) According to Detective Flannino, at that time, Maldonado was not "in custody in any way," not "restrained or handcuffed," and was not "a suspect in the case at that time." (Flannino: H. 18.)
During this interview, Maldonado stated that he was "raised on and off by Mr. Wessler for the last fifteen years, [a]nd that for the past year or so he had been residing there at 3333 Henry Hudson Parkway with Mr. Wessler." (Flannino: H. 18-19, 74.) Wessler "had an approximate fifteen year relationship" with Maldonado's mother. (Flannino: H. 19, 74.) Padilla was "his mother's best friend, and in fact introduced Ms. Padilla to Mr. Wessler," who "was helping her out." (Flannino: H. 19, 74.) Maldonado "referred to Ms. Padilla as an aunt" and stated that "at the time he got along very well with" her and that she "used to babysit him." (Flannino: H. 19-20, 74.)
The night before Padilla was killed, Maldonado and Perez "had stayed up late watching television" and "Harvey [Wessler] was awake[] in his bedroom." (Flannino: H. 20.) Around midnight, Maldonado went to the bathroom and "Ms. Padilla [] began banging on the bathroom door calling out for . . . Mr. Wessler." (Flannino: H. 20, 74-75.) As Padilla "entered the bathroom, then exited it . . . [Maldonado] noticed she was wearing a black pouch," and Maldonado "closed the door behind her." (Flannino: H. 20-21, 75.) Maldonado remained in the bathroom for "approximately five or six minutes . . ." (Flannino: H. 21.) "After [Maldonado] left the bathroom, Harvey Wessler went back to bed . . . [and] Linda [Padilla] left." (Flannino: H. 21, 75.) Maldonado also told Detective Flannino that "he remembered locking the front door after leaving . . . the bathroom, and at the time Mr. Wessler began yelling at him." (H. 21, 75.) Maldonado "laid down with Maylene Perez to watch T.V. and he fell asleep." (Flannino: H. 21.) Maldonado stated that "throughout the evening he smoked four blunt cigarettes . . . [which] were cigars that were filled with marijuana and crack." (Flannino: H. 20.) The blunts "knocked him out and he didn't wake up until the police . . . entered and woke him and Ms. Perez." (Flannino: H. 21.)
Maldonado's Second Statement: 9:50 p.m.5
Between the conclusion of Maldonado's first interview around 1:25 p.m. (Flannino: H. 22, 46) and his second interview at 9:50 p.m., Maldonado ate food from McDonald's and "was sitting down falling asleep in the chair that he was...
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