People v. Quartararo

Citation493 N.Y.S.2d 511,113 A.D.2d 845
PartiesThe PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Michael QUARTARARO and Peter Quartararo, Appellants.
Decision Date16 September 1985
CourtNew York Supreme Court Appellate Division

Schoer & Sileo, Forest Hills (Gary Schoer, Forest Hills, of counsel), for appellant Michael Quartararo.

J. Kinsley Best, Huntington, for appellant Peter Quartararo.

Patrick Henry, Dist. Atty., Riverhead (Mark D. Cohen, Riverhead, of counsel), for respondent.

Before BRACKEN, J.P., and O'CONNOR, RUBIN and KUNZEMAN, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeals (1) by defendants from two judgments (one as to each of them) of the County Court, Suffolk County (Doyle, J.), both rendered June 9, 1981, convicting each of them of two counts of murder in the second degree on Ind. No. 2678/79, upon jury verdicts, and imposing sentences, and (2) by defendant Michael Quartararo from a judgment of the same court, rendered December 9, 1981, convicting him of burglary in the third degree on Ind. No. 595/81, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence. The appeals bring for review the denial, after hearings, of those branches of defendants' pretrial motions as sought suppression of statements (Doyle, J., as to Ind. No. 2678/79 and Albanese, J., as to Ind. No. 595/81).

Judgments affirmed.

At approximately 8:15 P.M. on the evening of April 20, 1979, 13-year-old John Pius, Jr. was given permission by his father to leave their house in Smithtown for a brief test drive of his newly repaired bicycle. Approximately 10 minutes later, John was seen by a neighbor riding his bicycle in the direction of Dogwood Elementary School. It was the last time he was seen alive.

At approximately 1 P.M. in the afternoon of April 21, 1979, John's body was found in a forested area near the school. In a subsequent autopsy, it was determined that the cause of death was traumatic asphyxia which resulted from the presence of six stones lodged in John's mouth, five above and one below the tongue, which blocked his air passages. In addition, trauma to John's body and a sneaker mark on his cheek were determined to be consistent with a person or persons standing on his throat and then placing the rocks in his mouth.

Various police officers testified at the suppression hearing that Peter Quartararo voluntarily consented to submit to police questioning as a possible witness from about 1:45 P.M. to 6:30 P.M. on April 28, 1979 and that Peter had not been considered a suspect. As Peter was two days shy of his 16th birthday, he was taken to the juvenile aid room of the Fourth Precinct of the Suffolk County Police Department. The police considered three youths named O'Neil, Sparling and St. Denis as suspects, and asked Peter if he had witnessed anything done to Pius by the other three. He was asked not to cover up for his friends. Peter was not restrained or handcuffed, was never questioned by more than two detectives, and was left alone for periods of time. He did not request to leave.

Detectives Palumbo and Leonard conversed with him in the juvenile aid room in normal conversational tones; no threats were made. Peter made no requests for food or a telephone; his request to use the men's room was honored. Peter was a high school student of apparently normal intelligence.

Peter told the officers that on the evening of April 20, 1979, he, his brother Michael, Thomas Ryan and Robert Brensic had taken some beer and driven to the Dogwood Elementary School. The youths then proceeded to the nearby Dogwood development and stole a minibike. Peter conceded that John Pius, Jr. had ridden by on his bicycle just as the minibike was being placed in the trunk of Ryan's automobile. With Detective Palumbo urging that he perhaps did see something more, Peter implicated Thomas Ryan and Robert Brensic in the murder of Pius. Peter alleged that Ryan and Brensic had run after Pius, leaving Peter and his brother Michael alone for 15 to 20 minutes. When they returned, they related that in an effort to "shut him up", they had shoved rocks down Pius's throat.

At approximately 5:30 P.M., in preparation of Peter Quartararo's giving a statement as to Ryan's and Brensic's participation in the murder of John Pius, Jr., Detective Palumbo, in order to obtain a better understanding of the site of the crime, asked Peter if he would mind going to the school with him and showing him the area. With Peter Quartararo's consent, Detectives Palumbo and Leonard proceeded to the Dogwood Elementary School with him.

Along the way, Peter indicated where Ryan's car had been parked while Robert Brensic went to steal the minibike. At the school, Peter related first that he stayed in the car while Brensic and Ryan left, but soon conceded that he and his brother Michael had left the car as well, had run a distance behind Ryan and Brensic, and had watched Ryan and Brensic fight with Pius and kill him by shoving rocks down his throat.

At about 6:30 P.M. Peter further admitted that his brother Michael had assisted in bringing John Pius, Jr.'s bicycle towards the forest and that he, along with Ryan and Brensic, had assisted in dragging Pius's body across the macadam playground towards the woods and that they all had covered him with logs, leaves and sticks. In response to Peter's concern that Ryan and Brensic would have to find out about his "ratting" them out, he was advised by Detective Palumbo that the others would have to know. At that point, Peter Quartararo stated, "I might as well tell you. Mike and me helped--Mike and me chased Pius, too. We all stuffed rocks in his mouth, hid the body." According to the detective, Peter related that "[i]t happened so quick. Brensic told Pius not to say anything about the mini-bike, Pius said he wouldn't say anything about the mini-bike." The next thing he knew, "Rob pushed Pius and they all started fighting with him. He was screaming * * * and Rob said, 'Shove rocks in his mouth to shut him up' ".

Detective Palumbo then told Peter to stop speaking and advised him of his Miranda rights. Peter waived his Miranda rights, indicated that he did not wish to call either a lawyer or his mother, and indicated that he wished to continue speaking with the police.

On the way back to the police station, Peter gave further statements, including a tape recorded confession. Peter's mother arrived at the police station at 8:35 P.M. Miranda warnings were again given and, in his mother's presence and at her urging, Peter gave a detailed confession as to how he and Michael participated in Pius's murder by beating him and shoving rocks down his throat.

The hearing court found, inter alia, that Peter had not been in custody at any point in time prior to 6:30 P.M., that Peter spontaneously "blurted" out at 6:30 P.M. that he and his brother Michael had been involved in the murder, that the tape-recorded statements would have to be suppressed due to a failure to comply with Family Court Act § 724, and that Peter's final statements made with his mother present followed his proper receipt and waiver of his Miranda rights. We agree with that determination. This court has noted that:

"It is well settled that whether a defendant was in police custody and was therefore not free to go is not determined by the individual defendant's subjective beliefs; rather, the determinative test is 'what a reasonable man, innocent of any crime, would have thought had he been in the defendant's position' (People v Yukl, 25 NY2d 585, 589 [307 N.Y.S.2d 857, 256 N.E.2d 172], cert den 400 US 851 [91 S.Ct. 78, 27 L.Ed.2d 89]; see Matter of Kwok T., 43 NY2d 213, 219-220 [401 N.Y.S.2d 52, 371 N.E.2d 814] ). Further, in reviewing the hearing court's findings that there existed no custodial interrogation and that proffered statements were voluntarily made, the hearing court must be afforded great deference (People v Yukl, 25 NY2d 585, 588 [307 N.Y.S.2d 857, 256 N.E.2d 172], supra ) because it had the opportunity to see and hear the witnesses (see People v Prochilo, 41 NY2d 759, 761 [395 N.Y.S.2d 635, 363 N.E.2d 1380] ). Issues of credibility are primarily to be determined by the hearing court (People v Armstead, 98 AD2d 726 ), and, in the event the proof permits the drawing of conflicting inferences, the choice is for the trier of the facts and should be upheld unless unsupported by the evidence (People v Vail, 90 AD2d 917, 918 ; see People v Leonti, 18 NY2d 384, 390 [275 N.Y.S.2d 825, 222 N.E.2d 591], cert den ...

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19 cases
  • Quartararo v. Mantello, 88 CV 1013 (ERK).
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of New York)
    • June 19, 1989
    ...nine years to life. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed petitioner's conviction. People v. Quartararo, 113 A.D.2d 845, 493 N.Y.S.2d 511 (2d Dep't 1985). Chief Judge Wachtler denied leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals on December 18, 1985. People v. ......
  • Quartararo v. Fogg, 86 CV 2337 (ERK).
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of New York)
    • February 9, 1988
    ...nine years to life. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed petitioner's conviction. People v. Quartararo, 113 A.D.2d 845, 493 N.Y.S.2d 511 (2d Dep't 1985). Chief Judge Wachtler denied leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals on December 18, 1985. People v. ......
  • Quartararo v. Hanslmaier
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of New York)
    • November 30, 1998
    ...appealed his conviction to the Appellate Division, Second Department, which affirmed the conviction, People v. Quartararo, 113 A.D.2d 845, 493 N.Y.S.2d 511 (2d Dep't 1985). Leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals was denied. People v. Quartararo, 66 N.Y.2d 1042, 499 N.Y.S.2d 1040, ......
  • Ryan v. Miller, Docket No. 01-2122.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
    • August 28, 2002
    ...Other Accused. In 1981, a jury convicted Peter Q. of murder, following a joint trial with his brother. See People v. Quartararo, 113 A.D.2d 845, 493 N.Y.S.2d 511 (N.Y.App. Div.1985). The Appellate Division affirmed Peter Q.'s conviction on appeal, see id., and the Court of Appeals (Wachtler......
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