Nelson v. Lilley

• Decision Date: 21 July 2022
• Docket Number: 21-CV-6470L
• Parties: RONALD NELSON, Petitioner, v. LYNN LILLEY, Superintendent, Eastern New York Correctional Facility, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

RONALD NELSON, Petitioner, v. LYNN LILLEY, Superintendent, Eastern New York Correctional Facility, Respondent.

No. 21-CV-6470L

United States District Court, W.D. New York

July 21, 2022

DECISION AND ORDER

DAVID G. LARIMER UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

INTRODUCTION

Petitioner Ronald Nelson, a prisoner in respondent's custody, has filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Dkt. # 1). For the reasons that follow, the petition is dismissed.

BACKGROUND

A. State Court Proceedings

On August 26, 2014, a Monroe County grand jury indicted Nelson and co-defendants Vincent Bean and Deiondre Francis in connection with the death of Travone Teasley on charges of Manslaughter in the First Degree (New York Penal Law §§ 20.00, 125.20[1]) and Gang Assault in the First Degree (P.L. §§ 20.00, 120.07). Bean also was charged with Murder in the Second Degree (P.L. § 125.25[1]) against the same victim.

The charges stemmed from an assault that occurred on June 20 2014, in the City of Rochester. The indictment alleged that while Nelson kicked Teasley in the face as he lay on the ground, Bean fatally stabbed Teasley with a knife he had borrowed from Nelson minutes before the attack. Francis pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree gang assault in exchange for his cooperation against Nelson and Bean.

Nelson and Bean were tried jointly in New York State Supreme Court Monroe County (Affronti, J.) (“trial court”) from May 7, to May 19, 2015. Neither Nelson nor Bean testified. The prosecution presented numerous witnesses along with video footage from surveillance cameras located on two stores near the crime scene. Set forth below is a summary of the testimony relevant to disposing of the instant petition.

At the beginning of 2014, eyewitness Lawrence Baker heard from a friend that he (the friend) had been beaten up by co-defendant Francis. In retaliation, Baker and his brother sought out Francis and beat him up for allegedly attacking Baker's friend. (T: 716-17).^[1]

Several weeks later, on the night of June 20, 2014, Nelson, Francis and Bean were hanging out and drinking with their friend Teana Hannah at the corner of Genesee Street and Kirkland Road. (T: 717-18). At around 9:30 p.m., Francis went to a nearby convenience store where he saw Baker, who was with Teasley. (T: 718-19). Francis knew Teasley by his nickname “Boo-Boo.” (T: 720). Francis testified that Boo-Boo was not involved in the incident where Baker and his friends jumped him (Francis).

Francis overheard Baker say to Teasley that Francis was “[t]hat boy that we jump[ed]” a couple weeks ago. (T: 719). Francis immediately left the store and went to find Nelson. Francis told him that he had just seen the man who had beaten him up, describing him as “[t]he one with no shirt on,” i.e., Baker. (T: 720). Francis and Nelson ran back toward the store and, on the way, met up with Bean. When Bean asked Francis and Nelson what was going on, they said, “Let's go fight.” (T: 721). When Bean asked who they were fighting, Francis replied, “Boy with no shirt on, Larry [Baker].” (T:721). Before Bean, Francis, and Nelson headed back to the store to confront Baker and Teasley, Hannah saw Nelson give Bean a small, silver, folding knife so that Bean would not be “empty handed.” (T: 905-06, 930, 936, 975-76). Francis also testified that Bean had a knife before the fight, but he said he saw Bean with it earlier in the evening, around 5 p.m. (T: 731-32).

As Bean, Francis, and Nelson approached Baker and Teasley, Bean was in the lead, followed by Nelson and Francis. Bean asked Baker what he did to his (Bean's) cousin, and Baker denied doing anything. Francis accused Baker of lying and “that's when [Bean] popped on [Baker],” that is, hit him. (T: 723). At that point, everyone scattered. Baker ran across the street and got hit by a car. (T: 513-14). After he stood up, Baker saw Bean, who had run into the street, pull out a knife. (T: 515). Nytecia Griffin and Zhaviair Cuyler, who were friends with Baker and Teasley, also heard Teasley say, in reference to Bean, “He's got a knife.” (T: 664-66).

Francis stated that he pursued Teasley towards a church opposite the convenience store. As Francis and Teasley squared up and got ready to fight, Bean came up and hit Teasley, causing him to fall into some bushes next to the church. (T: 724). Baker heard Bean yelling at Teasley, “You jumped my brother!” (T: 516). Nelson joined in the fray and was kicking Teasley in the face while Bean was punching Teasley repeatedly. (T: 724-25, 749-50 756). Hannah, who was watching the fight from a short distance away, saw Bean punching Teasley. She related that Teasley was holding onto the side of his body, trying to get away, and saying that “he didn't do it, it wasn't him.” (T: 913). Hannah saw blood on the side of the body that Teasley was holding. (T: 913).

Francis said he punched Teasley once but backed off because he saw blood on Teasley's chest and neck. (T: 724, 750). At that point, Francis testified, everybody also backed off. Teasley got up and ran down Kirkland towards Judson, stumbling and falling as he went. Nelson, Bean, and Francis ran in the same direction.

Teasley collapsed on Judson and did not move again. Francis, Bean, and Nelson kept walking and went to Francis's sister's house on Warwick. (T: 732). Hannah was walking with them. As they walked, Bean was wiping the blood off the knife with his shirt; he then tossed the knife into a gutter around Wellington. (T: 734-36). Francis and Hannah testified that Nelson asked Bean why he stabbed Teasley, saying that that he had not given him the knife for that purpose. (T: 823-24; 917-18).

The medical examiner, Dr. Caroline Dignan, testified that Teasley died as a result of significant injuries to his heart and lungs, caused by two stab wounds-one to his left neck and one to his chest. Either of the two stab wounds alone would have been fatal. (T: 1078-79). Teasley also sustained a non-fatal stab wound to the leg and numerous abrasions.

On May 19, 2015, the jury returned a verdict convicting Bean of all charges and convicting Nelson of first-degree gang assault while acquitting him of first-degree manslaughter. On June 16, 2015, Nelson was sentenced as a second felony offender to a 15-year determinate term of imprisonment plus five years of post-release supervision (“PRS”).

Represented by new counsel, Nelson filed an appellate brief asserting, among other claims, that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the first-degree gang assault conviction. In particular, Nelson challenged the following two elements of first-degree gang assault-intent to cause serious physical injury to the victim and causation of serious physical injury to the victim. The Appellate Division agreed that the People had failed to prove that Nelson's kick to Teasley's face caused “serious physical injury,” because “[t]he medical evidence admitted at trial established that the victim did not sustain any injuries to his head or face and that the only serious physical injuries sustained by the victim were the fatal stab wounds caused by the codefendant[, Bean].” People v. Nelson, 178 A.D.3d 1395, 1396, 116 N.Y.S.3d 826, 827 (4th Dept. 2019). Thus, it concluded, Nelson could not be found guilty as a principal on the first-degree gang assault charge. Id.

With respect to accessorial liability under P.L. § 20.00, the Appellate Division found that there was “no dispute” that codefendant Bean's actions proved beyond a reasonable doubt his intent cause serious physical injury to the victim; however, the evidence was “legally insufficient to establish that [Nelson] shared the codefendant's intent to cause serious physical injury to the victim,” Nelson, 178 A.D.3d. at 1396 (citation omitted). The Appellate Division “nevertheless conclude[d] that the evidence is legally sufficient to establish the lesser included offense of gang assault in the second degree under a theory of accomplice liability (Penal Law §§ 20.00, 120.06),” id. at 1396-97. The Appellate Division accordingly vacated the first-degree gang assault sentence and remanded for resentencing. Leave to appeal was denied by the New York Court of Appeals. People v. Nelson, 35 N.Y.3d 972 (2020).

At resentencing on July 21, 2020, the trial court imposed the same 15-year sentence on the second-degree gang assault conviction based on an accessorial theory of liability. Nelson appealed, arguing that the conviction should be further reduced to third-degree assault and that the resentence was unduly harsh and severe. The Appellate Division declined to further reduce the conviction, noting that “a defendant who appeals from a resentence only may not challenge the underlying judgment of conviction.” People v. Nelson, 195 A.D.3d 1442, 1443, 145 N.Y.S.3d 500 (4th Dept. 2021) (citing People v. Jordan, 16 N.Y.3d 845, 846 (2011) (“The Appellate Division correctly held that defendant could not challenge his plea on appeal from a resentencing proceeding. [N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law §] 450.30(3) provides that ‘when a resentence occurs more than thirty days after the original sentence, a defendant who has not previously filed a notice of appeal from the judgment may not appeal from the judgment, but only from the resentence.' An appeal such as this one seeking immediate relief from an underlying judgment of conviction is not one ‘only from the resentence.'”); other citations omitted). However, the Appellate Division exercised its discretion to reduce Nelson's sentence to 12 years' determinate plus five years' PRS.

While the original direct appeal was still pending, Nelson filed a pro se motion to vacate the judgment pursuant to New York Criminal Procedure Law (“C.P.L.”) §...