People v. Costello
| Decision Date | 15 October 1984 |
| Citation | 480 N.Y.S.2d 565,104 A.D.2d 947 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Pablo COSTELLO, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
David L. Lewis, New York City, for appellant.
Elizabeth Holtzman, Dist. Atty., Brooklyn (Barbara D. Underwood, Allan P. Root and Nikki Kowalski, Asst. Dist. Attys., Brooklyn, of counsel), for respondent.
Before GIBBONS, J.P., and BRACKEN, O'CONNOR and NIEHOFF, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County, rendered May 16, 1980, convicting him of murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree (two counts) and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Judgment affirmed.
During defendant's trial for felony murder and related crimes, it was discovered that one of the jurors had brought a copy of a newspaper, the New York Post, into the jury room. That newspaper contained an article regarding the sentencing of defendant's alleged accomplice, Luis Torres, who had been separately tried and convicted. The article reported that Torres had been sentenced to an indeterminate term of 25 years to life imprisonment for the same crimes for which defendant was standing trial, which sentence had been imposed by the Judge presiding at defendant's trial. In addition, the article stated:
"Torres, an auto mechanic, had testified at his trial that he and a friend had gone to buy auto parts at a store on 86th Street and that he didn't know it was going to be a stickup until his buddy thrust a gun into his hand at the last moment."
Defense counsel stated that Torres' allegations, as set forth in the article, would be in direct contradiction to the testimony of defendant, who would (and, in fact, did) testify that Torres carried the gun and instigated the robbery and ensuing homicide without his knowledge.
Criminal Term, while noting that it had instructed the jury not to read anything about the case, nevertheless conducted a hearing at which each of the 12 jurors and four alternates was examined individually by the court and by both attorneys. It was determined that three jurors had neither read nor heard about the article or its contents; six jurors had not read the article but had heard about it; and seven jurors had actually read the article. Of those jurors who had read or heard about the article, each stated that he had not formed an opinion about the case as a result of the article and could arrive at an impartial verdict based solely upon the evidence adduced at trial. Each juror was admonished not to discuss the examination with fellow jurors.
At the conclusion of the hearing, defense counsel moved for a mistrial, without objecting to the fitness of any specific juror. Criminal Term denied the motion. We conclude that the denial of defendant's motion was not an abuse of the trial court's discretion, and we therefore affirm the judgment of conviction.
Recognizing that we live in a world of swift and widespread dissemination of information, and that reports of crime are, in particular, often highlighted by the news media, the courts have held that mere...
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