People v. Huntley

• Decision Date: 09 July 1982
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Charles B. HUNTLEY, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 952

452 N.Y.S.2d 952

87 A.D.2d 488

PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Charles B. HUNTLEY, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Fourth Department.

July 9, 1982.

Gerald T. Barth, Syracuse (Eric Alderman, Syracuse, of counsel), for appellant.

Richard A. Hennessy, Jr., Dist. Atty., Syracuse (John A. Cirando, Asst. Dist. Atty., Syracuse, of counsel), for respondent.

Before SIMONS, J. P., and HANCOCK, CALLAHAN, DENMAN and MOULE, JJ.

DENMAN, Justice.

Two days after a jury found defendant guilty of manslaughter in the second degree for the stabbing death of Leroy ("Troy") Simmons, a juror came forward with the information that during the course of their deliberations, one of the jurors informed the others that, contrary to the instructions of the court, he had gone to the scene of the crime. He described conditions with respect to the width of the street; gave an opinion as to whether vehicles could be parked on either side of the street; commented on one of the chief prosecution witness' ability to view the incident from a window overlooking the scene and stated that in his opinion she would have had a very good view. Such misconduct on the part of the juror, resulting in the jury considering matters outside the record, deprived defendant of due process and requires that the verdict be set aside and that he be granted a new trial.

Defendant was indicted for murder in the second degree; felony murder; manslaughter in the first degree; attempted robbery in the first degree; attempted robbery in the third degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Prior to submitting the case to the jury, the court dismissed all counts except for the intentional murder and manslaughter charges. The events from which these charges arose were as follows. On the night of January 5, 1979 David Garceau, a witness for the prosecution, encountered the defendant Charles Huntley, whom he had known for some time, at the Blue Chateau, a bar on Oswego Street in Syracuse. "Troy" Simmons, the victim, arrived shortly thereafter and joined the other two men, both of whom he knew. During the course of the evening the three men left the Blue Chateau on a couple of occasions, walking down Oswego Street and stopping in other bars, but returned to the Blue Chateau. At some point Simmons and defendant engaged in a fight in the street outside the Blue Chateau as a result of which Simmons was stabbed to death. The testimony at trial presented three different versions of the fight and the events immediately preceding it:

David Garceau's Testimony

Garceau testified that he, Huntley and Simmons left the Blue Chateau and walked down Oswego Street to look for someone, then returned to the Blue Chateau. Garceau sat at one end of the bar and Huntley and Simmons at the other. Huntley left the bar and soon after Garceau and Simmons went to the Club House, a bar across the street, and had another drink. As they left the Club House to return to the Blue Chateau, Huntley appeared and grabbed Simmons around the neck from behind and said, "Troy where's my money?", to which Simmons replied, "I have it". The two men began fighting and fell against a parked car. Simmons got up and ran into the street pursued by the defendant and they continued struggling across the street and into a snowbank. When Simmons yelled to Garceau to get the knife, Garceau crossed the street, saw Huntley lying beneath Simmons with the knife in his hand and removed the knife from Huntley's hand. Simmons had blood coming from his mouth and stated "I am dying". When asked who stabbed him, the victim replied "Charles".

Sharon Lyons' Testimony

Sharon Lyons lived on the corner of Seymour and Oswego Streets in an apartment over the Club House bar directly across from the Blue Chateau. She knew all three participants in the struggle. On the evening in question she heard someone hollering and looked out to see defendant and Simmons fighting outside the Blue Chateau. Their struggle took them from the sidewalk outside the Blue Chateau across the street to a point almost underneath her window. Garceau came out of the Blue Chateau after Huntley and Simmons started fighting and she heard Simmons say, "He stabbed me," and ask someone to help him because he was dying. She saw Garceau walk away with a knife in his hand and attempt to put it in a trash can when Huntley came up, took the knife and walked away. She said that Garceau came out of the bar after Simmons had hollered, "He stabbed me," and that only Huntley was with Simmons at that time. She stated further that when the men had crossed to her side of the street Simmons was hanging on to the defendant but then fell to the ground doubled over and that defendant had kicked him.

Charles Huntley's Testimony

Huntley testified that as he walked back towards the Blue Chateau, Simmons approached him with a knife in his hand and said, "Give me your money." They began to wrestle and fell to the ground. When Huntley broke away Simmons pursued him with the knife. Huntley ran into a parked car on the opposite side of the street. Simmons caught up with him and, struggling, they fell to the ground. During this struggle Huntley got the knife away from Simmons but it inadvertently went into Simmons' back. When Garceau came over Simmons said, "Take the knife," and Garceau removed it from Simmons' back.

Given the critical differences in the testimony, the credibility of Sharon Lyons testimony and the accuracy of her observations were extremely significant. As a consequence, the statements of the juror to the effect that the street was narrow and that the witness would have had a very good view of the incident undeniably had the effect of bolstering her testimony. Conversely, the juror's comments that the street was not wide enough to accommodate vehicles parked on either side tended to undercut the credibility of the defendant.

When the information regarding the juror's statements during deliberations was made known, defense counsel moved to set aside the verdict. The District Attorney obtained affidavits from the other jurors which substantiated the fact that these statements had been made and two of the jurors said that the statements had influenced their verdict. A hearing was held at which the offending juror was placed under oath. He denied that he had visited the scene, stating that he had reconstructed the scene from his recollection of the testimony and had said that he had gone to the scene only in jest. The trial court, expressing concern that the jury not be harassed or intimidated, refused to expand the hearing to allow for examination of the other jurors and denied the motion to set aside the verdict.

Although as a general principle a verdict may not be impeached by delving into the tenor of the jury's deliberations (People v. DeLucia, 20 N.Y.2d 275, 282 N.Y.S.2d 526, 229 N.E.2d 211) the rule has been established in New York that unauthorized juror visits to the situs of a crime and communication of observations founded thereon to other jurors violates a defendant's right to confrontation and cross-examination as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment (People v. Brown, 48 N.Y.2d 388, 393, 423 N.Y.S.2d 461, 399 N.E.2d 51; People v. Crimmins, 26 N.Y.2d 319, 323, 310 N.Y.S.2d 300, 258 N.E.2d 708; People v. De Lucia, 20 N.Y.2d 275, 279, 282 N.Y.S.2d 526, 229 N.E.2d 211). The People argue...