Spells v. Lee
| Decision Date | 04 April 2016 |
| Docket Number | 11-CV-1680(KAM) |
| Parties | CHARLES SPELLS, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM LEE, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
On April 1, 2011, Charles Spells ("petitioner") filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging his state court conviction on one count of Murder in the Second Degree and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. (See ECF No. 1, Petition.) Plaintiff filed an amended petition on August 13, 2012. (ECF No. 24, Am. Pet.) Petitioner claims that the state failed to disprove his justification defense and that he was deprived of a fair trial due to ineffective assistance of his appellate counsel.1 For the reasons set forth below, the petition is denied.
Petitioner's conviction, sentence, and the instant petition stem from the shooting and subsequent death of Jean Frank Guillaume ("Mr. Guillaume" or "victim"). On April 18, 2003, at about 9:40 p.m., outside of 829 Schenck Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, the petitioner approached Mr. Guillaume for the purpose of purchasing marijuana from him. (ECF No. 3, Aff. in Opp'n to Pet. for Writ of Habeas Corpus dated 5/24/11 ("Opp.") at 2.) After a brief discussion, the two began to argue, and the argument escalated into a brawl, during which Mr. Guillaume pulled out a knife and sliced the defendant in the back and left arm, and the defendant shot the victim three times: once in the face and twice in the back. (Id.; see also Am. Pet. at 6.) The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he died shortly thereafter. (Opp. at 2.) Petitioner asserts that Mr. Guillaume was the initial aggressor who stabbed Mr. Spells in the back without just cause, and consequently, petitioner turned around and shot the victim three times. (Am. Pet. at 6.)
Following his arrest, petitioner was charged with two counts of Murder in the Second Degree (N.Y. Penal Law § 125.25[1], [2]), and one count each of Manslaughter in the First Degree (N.Y. Penal Law § 125.20[1]), Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (former N.Y. Penal Law § 265.03[2]),and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree (former N.Y. Penal Law § 265.02[4]. (Opp. at 2; Kings County Indictment No. 2857/2003.) Petitioner proceeded to trial before a jury in Supreme Court, Kings County.
During the trial, the prosecution introduced the testimony of Pierre Michel Guillaume (ECF Nos. 4-5; Trial Transcript ("Tr.") at 41-48), Police Officer Reginald Miot (Tr. at 48-91), Police Officer William Friedlander (Tr. at 92-125), Police Officer Latonji Bishop (Tr. 125-51), Detective David DelaRosa (Tr. 153-76), criminalist Michelle Miranda (Tr. 176-95), Detective Charles Reiss (Tr. 196-233), Dr. Florisana Persechino (Tr. 234-84), Christina Wallace (Tr. 298-328), and Lisa Desort (Tr. 329-47). The defendant also testified at trial. (Tr. 349-424). The court summarizes the trial testimony relevant to deciding the petition for habeas corpus herein.
The prosecution called Christina Wallace, who was looking out of her window from 829 Schenck Ave. on the night of the shooting. (Tr. at 300-04.) She observed Mr. Guillaume selling cigarettes in front of her building. (Tr. 305-06.) Ms. Wallace observed two other men with Mr. Guillaume. (Tr. 311-12.) After observing the men through her window, Ms. Wallace walked to her kitchen and then sat in her living room. (Tr. 313.) While in her living room, Ms. Wallace heard three shots with pauses between each shot. (Tr. 313-14.) When she returnedto the window, she saw Mr. Guillaume alone, face down on the ground. (Tr. 314-15.)
The prosecution also called Lisa Desort, an emergency medical technician ("EMT") for Brookdale Hospital who was the first to arrive to the scene on the night of the shooting. (Tr. 331-32.) EMT Desort testified that when she arrived she found a Mr. Guillaume lying face down2 at 829 Shchenk Ave. (Tr. 332-33; 341-42.) EMT Desort testified that she noticed some respiration from Mr. Guillaume and immediately flipped him over and noticed that he had a gunshot wound to the chest. (Tr. 333.) EMT Desort testified that she removed Mr. Guillaume's black jacket and white t-shirt. (Tr. 333-34.) Shortly thereafter, police officers arrived to the scene, and Mr. Guillaume was taken in an ambulance to Brookdale Hospital. (Tr. 339.) Officer Friedlander testified that Mr. Guillaume was deceased by the time he arrived at the hospital. (Tr. 96, 106.)
Detective Reiss testified that at the crime scene he gathered Mr. Guillaume's jacket and t-shirt. (Tr. 201—4; 230; see also 132, 146-49.) Detective Reiss testified that he found a deformed bullet underneath Mr. Guillaume's jacket. (Tr. 202.) Detective Reiss also found two .25 caliber shell casings lyingin a patch of grass to the left of the building stairs and a black nine-inch folding knife with a four inch blade. (Tr. 201-03; 228-29.) The parties stipulated that petitioner's blood was on the knife. (Tr. 296-97.)
The prosecution introduced expert testimony from Dr. Florisana Persechino, a forensic pathologist in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York ("OCME"). (Tr. 235-36). After entering Mr. Guillaume's autopsy report into evidence, Dr. Persechino testified based on her review of the autopsy report initially completed by Dr. Chauvin who had performed the autopsy on April 19, 2003. (Tr. 238-39.) Dr. Persechino also testified that she viewed the photographs of Mr. Guillaume's body and that she concurred with Dr. Chauvin's conclusions. (Tr. 241-42.)
Dr. Persechino described the three gunshot wounds on Mr. Guillaume's body. (Tr. at 242-46.) Dr. Persechino testified that the shot to Mr. Guillaume's head entered at the right upper eyelid, and the trajectory of the bullet was from front to back, right to left and at a slightly upward angle. (Tr. at 242-44.) Dr. Persechino testified that the stippling present at the entrance wound to the eye indicated that the gun was within eighteen inches of the eye when Mr. Guillaume was shot. (Tr. 242-43.) Dr. Persechino next testified that the autopsy report described a gunshot wound that entered through the back,traveled through the spinal column and spinal column, and then passed through the aorta and the left lung, and Dr. Chauvin found the bullet within the soft tissues of the left shoulder. (Tr. 244-45.) Dr. Persechino described the path of the bullet as traveling from right side of the back to the left and upward. (Id.) The third gunshot described in the autopsy report entered on the left side of the back, traveled through the soft tissues of the back and the diaphragm, went through the spleen, and exited the front of the torso through an exit gunshot wound in the front wall of the abdomen. (Tr. 245-46.) The autopsy report describes the path of this bullet from back to front, right to left and slightly downward. (Id.) Dr. Chauvin also examined Mr. Guillaume's clothing and noted that this bullet penetrated the inner lining of his jacket but not the outer lining. (Tr. 247-48.)
Dr. Persechino testified that the autopsy report did not imply a particular sequence for the gunshots. (Tr. 248-49.) Dr. Persechino testified that after the shot to the right eye, the victim would have been immediately incapacitated. (Tr. 253.) She also testified that the shot to the spinal cord would most likely have incapacitated the victim instantly, and the victim would have immediately fallen to the ground. (Tr. 254.) Dr. Persechino testified that the third shot to the spleen would not have instantly incapacitated Mr. Guillaume. (Tr. 255.) Dr.Persechino testified that the injuries were possibly consistent with Mr. Guillaume having been first shot in the head, and shot twice in the back. (Tr. 255.) Dr. Persechino also noted that other scenarios were possible. (Tr. 282.) The autopsy report concluded that the cause of death was "gunshot wounds of the head and torso with perforation of the brain, aorta, spleen, spinal cord." (Tr. 252.)
Detective Delarosa, a ballistics expert, examined the ballistics evidence recovered in connection with the case and determined that the deformed bullet and shell casings recovered at the scene and the bullets recovered from Mr. Guillaume's body were fired by the same gun. (Tr. 164-72.) Detective Delarosa also testified that when a .25 caliber gun fires, the bullet casing usually ejects slightly rearward and to the right. (Tr. 175.)
Criminalist Michelle Miranda, an expert in the field of gunshot residue analysis, examined Mr. Guillaume's jacket and concluded that the absence of melted fibers on Mr. Guillaume's jacket indicated that the gun had not been in contact with Mr. Guillaume's body when he was shot. (Tr. 176-77, 181, 193-94.) Ms. Miranda could not otherwise determine the distance from which Mr. Guillaume had been shot in the back. (Tr. 186-87.)
The petitioner took the stand and testified that he approached Mr. Guillaume, who was leaning against a gate at 829Schenck Ave., for the purpose of purchasing marijuana. (Tr. 352, 376.) The petitioner testified that he asked Mr. Guillaume for twenty dollars' worth of marijuana who responded that he only had ten dollars' worth. (Tr. 352-53.) The petitioner testified that he called Mr. Guillaume a "fake ass hustler" and the two began to argue. (Id.; Tr. 380-83.) Soon thereafter, the petitioner testified that he turned around away from Mr. Guillaume to walk down the steps away from the building. (Tr. 386-88, 416-17.)
The petitioner testified that he heard a click and that Mr. Guillaume grabbed the back of petitioner's hood, choking him, and stabbed him in the upper left side of his back. (Tr. 353-55, 386-91, 407, 409, 413, 417.) The petitioner testified that he dropped to his knees and pushed Mr. Guillaume off with his left arm in an effort to free himself from Mr. Guillaume's hold, and that Mr. Guillaume stabbed the petitioner twice in the left arm near...
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