People v. Harris
| Decision Date | 19 June 1986 |
| Citation | 121 A.D.2d 788,504 N.Y.S.2d 552 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Jose HARRIS, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Christopher R. Knauth, Kingston, for appellant.
Michael Kavanagh, Dist. Atty. (Michael Kirk, of counsel), Kingston, for respondent.
Before MAHONEY, J.P., and KANE, CASEY and LEVINE, JJ.
Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Vogt, J.), rendered June 27, 1983, upon a verdict convicting defendant of two counts of the crime of assault in the second degree.
On August 9, 1982, defendant, an inmate at Eastern Correctional Facility in Ulster County, was charged in a four-count indictment with assaulting two correction officers. The trial testimony shows that on the evening of April 27, 1982, Corrections Officers John Redican and Richard Faulkner undertook to transport defendant from his cell to get a haircut. En route, defendant proceeded toward another inmate's cell and attempted to pass a hairbrush to him. At this juncture, the testimony diverges. According to the prosecution witnesses, defendant ignored Redican's order not to pass the brush. As a result, defendant was advised that his haircut was canceled and directed to return to his cell. In response, defendant struck both Redican and Faulkner fracturing the former's jaw. Both officers denied having any physical contact with defendant prior to the assault. They withdrew from the gallery and defendant eventually returned to his cell. This testimony was reiterated by Correction Officer David Smith, who observed the entire incident from the control room. Defendant produced several inmate witnesses who essentially testified that as he passed the hairbrush, both Faulkner and Redican seized him from behind. Only when the officers refused to release him did defendant turn and strike each officer, ostensibly in self-defense. Defendant was convicted of two counts of assault in the second degree. He was sentenced as a second felony offender to concurrent prison terms of 3 to 6 years.
On this appeal, defendant's sole contention is that County Court erred in refusing his pretrial subpoena request for the personnel files of both Faulkner and Redican. We disagree. Civil Rights Law § 50-a authorizes disclosure of confidential police personnel records upon "a clear showing of facts sufficient to warrant the judge to request records for review" (Civil Rights Law § 50-a[2] ), but only after an in camera inspection confirms the relevance of the information (see, People v. Gissendanner, 48 N.Y.2d 543, 551, 423 N.Y.S.2d 893, 399 N.E.2d 924). Although a party seeking disclosure is not required to affirmatively demonstrate that the records contain information directly bearing on the reliability of the witness, it is necessary to propound, in good faith, "some factual...
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