People v. Rivera
| Citation | 12 N.E.3d 444,23 N.Y.3d 112,2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 02379,989 N.Y.S.2d 446 |
| Decision Date | 08 April 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 48.,48. |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Enrique RIVERA, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals |
Lynn W.L. Fahey, Appellate Advocates, New York City (Leila Hull of counsel), for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn (Solomon Neubort, Leonard Joblove and Seth M. Lieberman of counsel), for respondent.
Defendant Enrique Rivera was charged with second-degree murder (Penal Law § 125.25[1] ) and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree (Penal Law § 265.01[2] ) in connection with the stabbing death of Edgar Ojeda at a Brooklyn bar in the early morning hours of February 27, 2005. The narrative of what happened and its aftermath, as developed at defendant's jury trial in May 2009,1 follows. The issue in this appeal is whether the trial judge should have submitted a charge of second-degree manslaughter to the jury.
Enrique Navarette, who had in the past occasionally worked at the Brooklyn bar as a bouncer, arrived there between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m. on February 26, 2005. While sitting in the front corner of the bar, near the entrance, he saw defendant and three male companions walk in. Defendant was wearing a camouflage jacket with a hoodie; one of the four men was wearing a green cap, but Navarette could not recall which one. After the bouncer patted them down for weapons, the defendant and his companions stopped by the bar for beers and then continued to the back of the room towards the dance floor.
Between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m., Ojeda, along with Carlos Solomon, Jonathan Dominguez and another friend, arrived at the Brooklyn bar, having left a nearby strip club where they had been since about 11:30 p.m. Shortly after arriving, Solomon walked to the back of the bar to the men's room. He had been standing with Ojeda in front of a side exit door near a jukebox, not far from the dance floor. On his way to the men's room, Solomon saw defendant dancing with a woman on the dance floor.
After rejoining Ojeda, Solomon witnessed defendant approach Ojeda and whisper something in his ear. He could not hear what was being said, “[b]ut there was [a] conversation going on.” Defendant was joined by two of his friends. Solomon asked one of these men, “Is there a problem?” and the two began to quarrel. Then “all of a sudden” Solomon saw defendant “strike” or “punch” Ojeda twice in Ojeda's left shoulder or chest. Likewise,
Navarette saw defendant abruptly “push” Ojeda with one hand “twice, maybe” on the upper left side of Ojeda's chest near his shoulder. Neither Solomon nor Navarette noticed whether anything was in defendant's hand.
The bouncer rushed in to break up the fighting, and Navarette followed to back him up. Defendant and one of his companions quickly left the Brooklyn bar, chased by the bouncer, and Navarette stayed behind to stop anyone from following. Navarette separated Solomon and Dominguez from defendant's remaining companion, who turned out to be defendant's brother, Julio Rivera, but they both managed to throw punches at Julio before he, too, left the bar.
Dominguez had been standing with his back to Ojeda and Solomon, talking to someone, before he became aware of the “scuffle” behind him and turned around. When Dominguez asked Ojeda and Solomon what was happening, Ojeda replied “I'm stabbed.” Dominguez saw blood “leaking down” from Ojeda's neck. Ojeda, although choking and bleeding heavily, was able to make it on his own to Solomon's car, parked near the Brooklyn bar. Solomon drove Ojeda, along with Dominguez and their other friend, to Lutheran Medical Center, about 20 blocks distant, running red lights along the way. The trip took minutes, but Ojeda lost consciousness before reaching the hospital, where medical personnel were unable to revive him. Ojeda was apparently the only individual to suffer knife wounds during this incident.
Later on February 27, 2005, Dr. Frede Frederic, a forensic pathologist who works as a medical examiner in New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner, autopsied Ojeda. Frederic, who had by that point in her career performed more than 5,000 autopsies, determined that Ojeda suffered three stab wounds. One stab wound was in the upper left chest and was about five inches deep and 1 ¼ inches long. This wound pierced the upper lobe of the left lung and “cut through” the second rib, causing Ojeda to bleed to death. The second stab wound was to the left upper back. It was 2 ¼ inches deep and about 1 ¼ inches long. The third wound, also in the back of the left shoulder, was two inches deep and about 1 ¼ inches long. These last two nonlethal stab wounds injured the skin, subcutaneous tissue and muscle of the left shoulder.
All three wounds went from left to right and downward at an acute angle, and were consistent with having been inflicted with
the same knife or sharp instrument, which was either sharp on both sides or had a very thin edge on the unsharpened side. Dr. Frederic opined at trial that Ojeda's wounds could not have been caused by someone “waving” a knife around because According to Dr. Frederic, the fatal stab wound would have caused Ojeda to bleed profusely, lose consciousness in a few minutes, after the loss of enough blood, and then die a few minutes later.
On February 28, 2005, two detectives went to an apartment believed to be defendant's residence to search for him. There they met defendant's brother Julio, who had been with defendant at the Brooklyn bar, and returned to the precinct with him. Later that morning, at about 1:20 a.m., detectives returned to this apartment. They knocked on the door and were let in by defendant's mother. One of the detectives noticed a green camouflage jacket, brown hoodie sweatshirt and green army cap lying on the bedroom floor; bloodstains on the cap were subsequently matched to Ojeda's DNA. Defendant acknowledged having worn this green cap to the bar on February 27th.
A few hours later, Detective John Darino, the detective assigned to the Ojeda case, learned from defendant's brother Julio that defendant was at a house in Queens, where the police found him at 4:20 a.m. Detective Darino informed defendant that he was investigating an incident at a Brooklyn bar, and handcuffed and transported him to the precinct, where he was taken to the detective squad interview room. Detective Darino read defendant his Miranda rights, and defendant agreed to speak with the police.2 Detective Darino told defendant that people had placed him in the Brooklyn bar, and he wanted defendant's version of what happened.
Defendant relayed that when he went up to the bar to buy a round of drinks, he got “looks” from someone who asked him “What's up?” He responded “What's your problem?” Defendant said he then felt “grabbing and punching,” and so took out a knife and “started swinging it at the crowd,” and “didn't know that he actually hit anybody or hurt anyone.” He then left the premises, “jumped in his car” and drove away. Detective Darino asked defendant if he would be willing to write out a statement, and defendant agreed to do so.
In his written statement, which was read to the jury, defendant similarly stated as follows:
On February 28th, defendant also gave a videotaped statement to the assistant district attorney, which was shown to the jury. When asked during the videotaped statement to demonstrate how he wielded the knife, defendant, who was sitting, moved his arm weakly at mid-chest level from right to left at a slight downward angle. Additionally, he told the assistant district attorney that he threw the knife away after he left the Brooklyn bar. Later that day, Navarette and Solomon separately identified defendant in a lineup.
At trial, defendant's brother Julio testified that he had gone to the Brooklyn bar with defendant and two other friends, Little Julio and J.P. Julio reported that he had heard men cursing, observed “hand gestures” and “pointing fingers” and that he had gone towards them and “just got in the middle.” Julio separated the two groups of men, but when one of them punched him, he hit back, and then “all the punches started going off.” J.P. grabbed Julio, “trying to get” him out of the Brooklyn bar. Julio said that he would not leave without defendant, but then he saw that defendant and one of the bouncers were already almost out the door.
Defendant testified on his own behalf. He recounted that after watching a boxing match and drinking beer with his brother Julio at the barbershop that he operated with another brother, he and Julio went to the Brooklyn bar to meet friends. Defendant denied bringing a knife with him. Defendant related that when he received a phone call, he stepped into the men's room
so that he could hear his caller over the loud music. When Ojeda walked in and commented “This ain't no phone booth,” defendant hung up and rejoined his friends. Upon leaving the men's room, Ojeda purposely “ brushed into” defendant, staring at him “a little aggressive[ly]” as he walked by. Defendant assumed Ojeda was drunk...
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