People v. Harris

• Decision Date: 15 October 2015
• Docket Number: No. 137,137
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Dupree HARRIS, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

26 N.Y.3d 1
40 N.E.3d 560
18 N.Y.S.3d 583
2015 N.Y. Slip Op. 07528

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent
v.
Dupree HARRIS, Appellant.

No. 137

Court of Appeals of New York.

Oct. 15, 2015.

Lynn W.L. Fahey, Appellate Advocates, New York City (Mark W. Vorkink of counsel), for appellant.

Kenneth P. Thompson, District Attorney, Brooklyn (Morgan J. Dennehy, Leonard Joblove and Seth M. Lieberman of counsel), for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

PIGOTT, J.

40 N.E.3d 560

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

40 N.E.3d 561

This case involves the interplay between two murders and three criminal trials; the third trial is the subject of this appeal.

In September 2001, defendant's half brother, Wesley Sykes, fatally shot Dennis Brown. There were numerous witnesses to the crime, including three teenaged girls. Each girl gave a statement to the police identifying Sykes as the shooter.

While Sykes was awaiting trial, defendant began cultivating a relationship with each girl. Eventually, the girls agreed to go with defendant to Sykes's attorney's office and recant their prior identifications. Afterwards, defendant gave each of them money. It is these acts that led to defendant being charged with three counts each of witness tampering (Penal Law § 215.11 [2 ] ) and bribery (Penal Law § 215.00 ).

As the trial of Sykes for the murder of Brown was about to begin, another eyewitness to the Brown shooting, Bobby Gibson, was shot and killed outside the apartment of one of the three girls. The shooting was so close, she heard the shots and saw Gibson's body outside her window. Fearing a similar fate, the girls revealed to police that they had taken money from defendant who had asked them to recant their identifications and not testify against Sykes. The girls were then placed in protective custody. They all testified at the Sykes trial and a jury ultimately convicted Sykes of Brown's murder.

A man named Travis Ragsdale later confessed to the murder of Gibson. He claimed the murder resulted from an alcohol-fueled dispute, and denied that the incident was related to the Brown murder. Ragsdale was ultimately convicted of murder in the second degree for the Gibson killing.

Prior to defendant's bribery and witness tampering trial, defense counsel moved to preclude evidence of the murder of the witness Gibson, asserting that it was entirely irrelevant to the charges in this case because defendant did not even know the man who shot and killed Gibson. She argued that the admission of the evidence would be prejudicial and...