Zappulla v. New York
| Decision Date | 30 September 2003 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 02-CV-4934 (JBW), 03-MISC-0066 (JBW).,s. 02-CV-4934 (JBW), 03-MISC-0066 (JBW). |
| Citation | 296 F.Supp.2d 309 |
| Parties | Guy ZAPPULLA (99-A-2233), Petitioner, v. People of the State of NEW YORK, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Guy Zappulla, Comstock, NY, pro se.
Camille O'Hara Gillespie, Kings County District Attorneys Office, Brooklyn, NY, for Respondent.
Petitioner was tried for strangling a woman and stuffing her corpse under the bed of a motel room. Evidence of petitioner's guilt was overwhelming; it included his confession to the crime. The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court found that his confession was obtained without Miranda warnings and in violation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Because this error was harmless, however, petitioner is not entitled to the writ.
The petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied. No hearing on this matter is necessary. This memorandum briefly addresses petitioner's claims.
The statement of the facts of the case are derived largely from the decision of the Appellate Division affirming petitioner's conviction.
Petitioner was arrested at approximately 12:30 a.m. on March 17, 1998, in the second-floor hallway of the Golden Gate Inn in Brooklyn after his girlfriend filed a complaint that he had stolen a fur coat and jewelry from her. At approximately 1:20 a.m., after being advised of his rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), he refused to talk about the theft, although he did talk about other matters. Before transporting petitioner to central booking, the police searched him and found a key to room 234 at the Golden Gate Inn. Detectives went to the motel and discovered that petitioner was not the registered occupant. When no one answered the door to room 234 and the detectives heard a television blaring loudly inside the room, they asked the manager to enter and see if the occupants were safe. The manager unlocked the door, went in, and found only a fur coat. Based on this information, the police obtained a search warrant for the room. Upon executing the warrant, they found the corpse of Jennifer Scarpati under one of the beds. Thereafter, at approximately 1:15 a.m. on March 18, 1998, twenty four hours after they initially interviewed petitioner concerning the robbery of a fur coat and jewelry, the police interrogated petitioner about the homicide without readvising him of his Miranda rights. After petitioner stated that he wanted a lawyer, a detective told him, "If you want a lawyer, we can't speak to you any further." Feb. 9, 1999 Hearing Tr. at 83. Petitioner subsequently confessed to the police that he choked Scarpati. Petitioner moved unsuccessfully to suppress the physical evidence recovered from the motel room and his confession.
Evidence introduced against petitioner at trial included his confession to police; a witness's testimony that petitioner was with Scarpati in room 234 of the motel immediately before the crime; videotape from the motel showing petitioner coming to and from the motel shortly before his arrest; the key to room 234, where Scarpati's body was found, on petitioner's person; DNA testing that showed that blood found on petitioner's clothing was Scarpati's; and petitioner's admission to another inmate that he had choked Scarpati.
Petitioner was convicted of second degree murder. He also pled guilty to second degree escape. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The Appellate Division affirmed his conviction on direct appeal. Leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals was denied. No state collateral proceedings were initiated.
In his application for a writ of habeas corpus, petitioner claims that (1) the search warrant that led to the discovery of physical evidence in the motel room was improperly obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment and should have been suppressed; and (2) his confession should have been suppressed because police failed to readvise him of his Miranda rights.
Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), a federal court may grant a writ of habeas corpus to a state prisoner on a claim that was "adjudicated on the merits" in state court only if it concludes that the adjudication of the claim "(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).
An "adjudication on the merits" is a "substantive, rather than a procedural, resolution of a federal claim." Sellan v. Kuhlman, 261 F.3d 303, 313 (2d Cir.2001) (quoting Aycox v. Lytle, 196 F.3d 1174, 1178 (10th Cir.1999)). Under the "contrary to" clause, "a federal habeas court may grant the writ if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by [the Supreme Court] on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than this Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts." Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412-13, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000) (). Under the "unreasonable application" clause, "a federal habeas court may grant the writ if the state court identifies the correct governing legal principle from this Court's decisions but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner's case." Id. at 413, 120 S.Ct. 1495. Under this standard, Id. at 411, 120 S.Ct. 1495. In order to grant the writ there must be "some increment of incorrectness beyond error," although "the increment need not be great; otherwise, habeas relief would be limited to state court decisions so far off the mark as to suggest judicial incompetence." Francis S. v. Stone, 221 F.3d 100, 111 (2d Cir.2000) (internal quotation marks omitted).
"[F]ederal law, as determined by the Supreme Court, may as much be a generalized standard that must be followed, as a bright-line rule designed to effectuate such a standard in a particular context." Overton v. Newton, 295 F.3d 270, 278 (2d Cir.2002); see also Yung v. Walker, 341 F.3d 104 (2d Cir.2003) (amended opinion) (). The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has also indicated that habeas relief may be granted if a state court's decision was contrary to or an unreasonable application of "a reasonable extension" of Supreme Court jurisprudence. Torres v. Berbary, 340 F.3d 63, 72 (2d Cir.2003). Determination of factual issues made by a state court "shall be presumed to be correct," and the applicant "shall have the burden of rebutting the presumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1).
In the past, a state prisoner's federal habeas petition had to be dismissed if the prisoner did not exhaust available state remedies as to any of his federal claims. See Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 522, 102 S.Ct. 1198, 71 L.Ed.2d 379 (1982). "This exhaustion requirement is ... grounded in principles of comity; in a federal system, the States should have the first opportunity to address and correct alleged violations of [a] state prisoner's federal rights." Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 731, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991). The exhaustion requirement requires the petitioner to have presented to the state court "both the factual and legal premises of the claim he asserts in federal court." Daye v. Attorney General, 696 F.2d 186, 191 (2d Cir.1982) (en banc).
Pursuant to AEDPA, a district court may now, in its discretion, deny on the merits habeas petitions containing unexhausted claims—so-called "mixed petitions." See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(2) (). In addition, the state may waive the exhaustion requirement, but a "State shall not be deemed to have waived the exhaustion requirement or be estopped from reliance upon the requirement unless the State, through counsel, expressly waives the requirement." Id. § 2254(b)(3); see also Ramos v. Keane, No. 98 CIV. 1604, 2000 WL 12142, at *4 (S.D.N.Y.2000) ().
A federal habeas court may not review a state prisoner's federal claims if those claims were defaulted in state court pursuant to an independent and adequate state procedural rule, "unless the prisoner can demonstrate cause for the default and actual prejudice as a result of the alleged violation of federal law, or demonstrate that failure to consider the claims will result in a fundamental miscarriage of justice." Coleman, 501 U.S. at 750, 111 S.Ct. 2546. In determining whether a procedural bar is sufficient to preclude habeas review, a federal court must consider as "guideposts" the following:
(1) whether the alleged procedural violation was actually relied on in the trial court, and whether perfect compliance with the state rule would have changed the trial court's decision; (2) whether state caselaw indicated that compliance with the rule was demanded in the specific circumstances presented; and (3) whether ...
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...Div.3d 696, 697, 774 N.Y.S.2d 739 (2004) (11 1/2 hours after first questioning defendant was reasonable); See Zappulla v. New York, 296 F.Supp.2d 309, 317-18 (E.D.N.Y.2003), reversed on other grounds 391 F.3d 462 [2d Cir.2004]) (collecting See also United States v. Andaverde, 64 F.3d 1305, ......
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