People v. Miller

• Decision Date: 13 November 2020
• Docket Number: 1039,KA 15-00477
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Anthony MILLER, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

191 A.D.3d 111

134 N.Y.S.3d 605

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Anthony MILLER, Defendant–Appellant.

1039

KA 15-00477

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, New York.

Entered: November 13, 2020

OPINION AND ORDER

Opinion by Troutman, J.:

It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from is reversed on the facts, the indictment is dismissed, and the matter is remitted to Supreme Court, Monroe County, for proceedings pursuant to CPL 470.45.

On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of robbery in the first degree ( Penal Law § 160.15[4] ), defendant contends that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence. We agree.

I

The evidence at trial established that a robbery occurred at approximately 8:00 p.m. on a chilly September evening at a location near Genesee Street in the City of Rochester. The perpetrator put a gun to the victim's head and stole a cell phone, a set of keys, a pack of cigarettes, and two $5 bills, none of which were ever recovered. The victim estimated that the entire encounter lasted approximately 30 to 45 seconds, after which the gunman ran south on Genesee Street. A second, larger man on a bicycle was in the vicinity at the time of the crime and, after approximately one minute, he left and traveled in the same direction as the gunman. The victim called 911, and a radio dispatch was broadcast at 8:02 p.m.

The dispatch was heard by a Rochester Police Department officer, who was driving a marked patrol vehicle southwest of the location of the robbery. The officer testified on direct examination that the initial dispatch described "two suspects, both male blacks [sic], one wearing a red hoodie, the other one with a gray hoodie, ... one approximately five foot[ ]eight, maybe five foot[ ]nine, medium build." The officer knew the area and testified that "there's a lot of side streets, so at any point in time, they could have gone down any one of the side streets." The officer took one of those side streets. By doing so, he traveled north toward an intersection located approximately half a mile from the location of the robbery. The first people he saw on the street were, at 8:07 p.m., standing in the driveway of a house near the intersection and, according to the officer, they matched the description in the purported dispatch. However, on cross-examination, the officer admitted that the dispatch described only one suspect—a black man in a gray hooded sweatshirt and jeans, who was approximately 19 years of age. There was no credible evidence presented at any stage of these proceedings that anyone in a red sweatshirt was at any time reported to have been involved in the robbery.

One of the men standing in the driveway near the intersection was defendant. Defendant's height, which the jury was able to observe at trial, was listed in the presentence report as five feet, five inches. He was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, baggy black pants, and unlaced tan boots, and was described as having a "chin-strap" beard. The other, much larger man was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. The officer exited his patrol vehicle and told the men to show their hands, whereupon he immediately frisked defendant's companion. While the officer was conducting that frisk, his partner arrived and frisked defendant. The officer asked the men where they were coming from and where they were going. Defendant stated that he had gone to the house to retrieve an mp3 player, but that no one was home. The officer thought that the explanation was suspicious because his partner found an mp3 player on defendant's person during the frisk. Thereafter, the victim indicated to an investigator that the gunman had a chin-strap beard, and that description was radioed to the officers who were with defendant. Concluding that defendant fit the description of the gunman, the officers transported him and his companion to the scene of the crime for a showup identification procedure. Upon seeing defendant, the victim identified him as the gunman, explaining that defendant must have changed his clothes. In addition, the victim identified defendant's companion as the man on the bicycle. Defendant was arrested and jailed.

The same night, the investigator asked for permission to search the residence of defendant's companion, which was located across the street from where defendant and his companion had been standing when they were first approached by the officer. After obtaining such permission, the investigator searched the residence for the fruits of the robbery, particularly the cell phone, or for a pair of jeans that would have fit defendant. The search turned up no evidence related to the robbery. The investigator on direct examination minimized his failure to find evidence inside the residence, explaining that it was a "very, very cursory search." However, on cross-examination, he was unable to provide a coherent explanation for why he did not search the residence more thoroughly. After the failed search of the residence, the investigator continued to search for the victim's cell phone using a global positioning system locator. Two days after the robbery, while defendant was still in jail, the investigator was able to track the phone to a location close to the scene of the crime, where a group of people had congregated. The police activated the phone's alarm and, when the alarm sounded, everyone in the group immediately fled. The phone was powered down shortly thereafter and never recovered. The trial testimony of the investigator also established that a police dog was able to track the scent of the fleeing gunman down Genesee Street, finally losing the scent at least one block south of where the gunman would have needed to turn in order to get to the place where defendant was found.

II

We have the power to review the factual findings of the jury and the obligation to do so at the request of the defendant (see People v. Danielson , 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ; see also CPL 470.15[5] ). Our "unique factual review power is the linchpin of our constitutional and statutory design" ( People v. Bleakley , 69 N.Y.2d 490, 494, 515 N.Y.S.2d 761, 508 N.E.2d 672 [1987] ) and is intended to afford every defendant at least one appellate review of the facts (see People v. Kuzdzal , 31 N.Y.3d 478, 486, 80 N.Y.S.3d 189, 105 N.E.3d 328 [2018] ; Bleakley , 69 N.Y.2d at 494, 515 N.Y.S.2d 761, 508 N.E.2d 672 ). In discharging our judicial obligations here, we conclude that, inasmuch as the only evidence linking defendant to the crime was the eyewitness identification by the victim, an acquittal would have been reasonable (see generally Bleakley , 69 N.Y.2d at 495, 515 N.Y.S.2d 761, 508 N.E.2d 672 ). Because an acquittal would have been reasonable, we "must, like the trier of fact below, ‘weigh the relative probative force of conflicting testimony and the relative strength of conflicting inferences that may be drawn from the testimony’ " ( id. ). "If it appears that the trier of fact has failed to give the evidence the weight it should be accorded," we may set aside the verdict ( id. ; see CPL 470.20[2] ).

We start by considering the probative force of the eyewitness identification. It has long been understood that "the frequent untrustworthiness of eyewitness identification testimony" poses an "unusual threat to the truth-seeking process" because "juries unfortunately are often unduly receptive to such evidence" ( Manson v. Brathwaite , 432 U.S. 98, 119-120, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 [1977], Marshall, J., dissenting]; see Felix Frankfurter, The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: A Critical Analysis 99 [1927] ["What is the worth of identification testimony even when uncontradicted? The identification of strangers is proverbially untrustworthy. The hazards of such testimony are established by a formidable number of instances in the records of English and American trials."] ). More recently, the Court of Appeals, relying on empirical evidence collected as a result of DNA exonerations, has recognized that "[m]istaken eyewitness identifications are ‘the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions in this country’ ..., ‘responsible for more ... wrongful convictions than all other causes combined’ " ( People v. Boone , 30 N.Y.3d 521, 527, 69 N.Y.S.3d 215, 91 N.E.3d 1194 [2017] ). Although we generally defer to the jury's determination with respect to the credibility of eyewitnesses (see Bleakley , 69 N.Y.2d at 495, 515 N.Y.S.2d 761, 508 N.E.2d 672 ), there are a number of cases where we and the other Departments of the Appellate Division, in exercising our obligation to review the factual findings of the jury, have found a verdict to be against the weight of the evidence where the only significant evidence against the defendant was an uncorroborated eyewitness identification of dubious reliability (see e.g. People v. Mann , 184 A.D.3d 670, 671-672, 123 N.Y.S.3d 506 [2d Dept. 2020] ; People v. James , 179 A.D.3d 1095, 1096-1097, 118 N.Y.S.3d 179 [2d Dept. 2020], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 971, 125 N.Y.S.3d 28, 148 N.E.3d 492 [2020] ; see also People v. Rodas , 76 A.D.2d 936, 937, 428 N.Y.S.2d 996 [2d Dept. 1980] ; People v. Gerace , 254 App Div 135, 135-136, 5 N.Y.S.2d 29 [4th Dept. 1938] ).

Several factors call the reliability of this particular identification into question. One such factor is that showup identifications are inherently suggestive (see People v. Ortiz , 90 N.Y.2d 533, 537, 664 N.Y.S.2d 243, 686 N.E.2d 1337 [1997] ; People v. Crittenden , 179 A.D.3d 1543, 1543, 118 N.Y.S.3d 874 [4th Dept. 2020], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 969, 125 N.Y.S.3d 16, 148 N.E.3d 480 [2020] ; see also Jessica Lee, No Exigency, No Consent: Protecting Innocent Suspects From the Consequences of Non-Exigent Show-Ups , 36 Colum Hum Rts L Rev 755, 756 [2005] ). Additionally, the reliability of an identification is affected where, as here, a gun is displayed, there is a high level of stress, the incident is brief, and the...