Case Title: State v. Grice

Citation: 109 N.J. 379, 537 A.2d 683

Docket Number: 

State: new-jersey

Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

Date: 1988-02-29T00:00:00Z

Document:
109 N.J. 379 (1988) 537 A.2d 683 STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. RAYMOND BERNARD GRICE, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. STATE OF NEW JERSEY, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT, v. ALBERT CROWLEY, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. The Supreme Court of New Jersey. Argued September 28, 1987. Decided February 29, 1988. *381 Jeffrey B. Steinfeld, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant Raymond Bernard Grice (Alfred A. Slocum, Public Defender, attorney; Jeffrey B. Steinfeld and Felix R. Orraca, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, on the briefs). Kevin G. Byrnes, Designated Counsel, argued the cause for appellant Albert Crowley (Alfred A. Slocum, Public Defender, attorney). John J. Scaliti and Carol M. Henderson, Deputy Attorneys General, argued the cause for respondent (W. Cary Edwards, Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney). PER CURIAM. In this case, the defendants, Raymond Bernard Grice and Albert Crowley, whose appeals were consolidated in the Appellate Division, were convicted after an eight day jury trial of *382 kidnapping, N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1b(1); aggravated sexual assault (two counts), N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2; robbery, N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1; theft, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3a; aggravated assault (two counts), N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b(5)(a) and 1b(1); receiving stolen property, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7; and attempted sexual assault, N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2. The trial court imposed the same sentences on each defendant: a thirty-year term with a fifteen-year parole ineligibility for the aggravated sexual assaults, a consecutive twenty-year term with a ten-year parole ineligibility for the kidnapping, a concurrent twenty-year term for the robbery and an eighteen-month consecutive term for aggravated assault. The theft, receiving stolen property and attempted sexual assault counts were merged into the robbery count, and Violent Crime Compensation Board penalties were assessed against each defendant in the amount of $2,100. In an unpublished opinion, the Appellate Division affirmed the convictions of the defendants, but remanded the matter for resentencing for reconsideration in light of State v. Yarbough, 100 N.J. 627 (1985). The trial court has since reimposed the original sentences. In affirming the convictions, the Appellate Division noted each of several contentions made by the defendants. The issues raised by these contentions related to identification, effective assistance of counsel, fair trial by an impartial jury, admissibility of certain evidence, and sufficiency of evidence, as well as the validity of the sentences. These contentions, as well as an issue raised by the Appellate Division itself concerning trial court comments and the burden of proof, were ultimately rejected as a basis for reversal. We granted defendants' petitions for certification. 107 N.J. 92 (1987). We now affirm defendants' convictions substantially for the reasons expressed in the Appellate Division's opinion. As noted, there are presented on this appeal several legal issues, the resolution of which turns ultimately upon disputed *383 facts. An understanding of the record is thus essential in determining the appeal. The facts surrounding the commission of the crimes were adequately summarized by the Appellate Division, viz: We concur in the Appellate Division's rejection of the contentions based upon improper or inadequate identifications. The Appellate Division noted that identifications were made by police officer Avalone, as well as the victim herself, immediately after defendants' arrest, which occurred within hours of the *384 commission of the crimes. The testimony relating to the identification of the defendants as recapitulated by the Appellate Division was: The Appellate Division correctly reviewed this testimony and the circumstances surrounding the identification under the plain error test of Rule 2:10-2. It carefully applied the standards of Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 93 S. Ct. 375, 34 L. Ed. 2d 401 (1972), and concluded, soundly in our view, that the identifications were admissible, viz: The Appellate Division further ruled that the identification testimony was not impugned by ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984), to which can be added State *385 v. Fritz, 105 N.J. 42 (1987). Nor did the court below believe there was ineffective assistance of counsel attributable to an alleged conflict of interest as a result of an office-sharing arrangement between defense counsel. Finding support in the analogous case of State v. Bell, 90 N.J. 163 (1982), the court concluded that in this case, given the mutuality of defenses, there was no possibility of conflict. The Appellate Division declined to consider the contention of defendant Grice that the alibi testimony demonstrated the guilty verdict was against the weight of the evidence. It refused to rule on this contention because defendant had failed to move on this ground for a new trial as required under Rule 2:10-1. Further, the court was not persuaded that its review would be productive because of the "intangibles" embedded in the record and the unlikelihood of being able to find "clearly and convincingly" that "there was a manifest denial of justice under the law" under Rule 3:20-1, so as to mandate a reversal. We do not disagree with the Appellate Division's reasons for refusing to review the sufficiency of the evidence of guilt in light of defense alibi testimony. Nevertheless, such a review is unavoidable, in our opinion, because of the relevance of this testimony to other claimed errors and the question of whether these other errors had a prejudicial impact sufficient to warrant reversal of the guilty verdicts. Although the alibi testimony of defendants was quantitatively impressive, it was not intrinsically impregnable. A review of the transcript reveals that the impartiality of Grice's alibi witnesses is highly suspect. Several of Grice's alibi witnesses testified that they were close friends of Grice, and the alibi witnesses were all friends of each other. Furthermore, two of Grice's alibi witnesses were also friends of Crowley. In addition, Grice's alibi witnesses, although all testifying that they were with him at the time of the crime, did not agree on *386 where they were when they were with him. This discrepancy was a source of difficulty for Grice's attorney during his summation, and was also commented on during the prosecution's summation. Further, the testimony of some of Grice's alibi witnesses is inconsistent with respect to the presence of another one of the alibi witnesses. Finally, one of Grice's and two of Crowley's alibi witnesses testified that they remembered hearing of the arrest the next day at school. It was pointed out, however, that the Newark public schools were closed the two days following the arrest, as well as the weekend that followed and the Monday thereafter. It is against this testimony, as well as that relating to the identifications, that we address whether certain alleged trial errors require a reversal. One of these errors involved the failure of the trial court to examine or excuse a juror who was observed crying during the victim's testimony. We concur in the ruling of the Appellate Division that any failure on the part of the trial court to deal further with this juror does not singly or in conjunction with other errors warrant a reversal. Similarly, we do not find reversible error in the admission into evidence of a brown leather jacket taken from defendant Crowley's apartment. As the court below pointed out, it should have been excluded under Evidence Rule 4 because it was not shown to belong to the defendant but was only similar to the jacket described by the victim as having been worn by one of her attackers during the commission of the crimes. It does not appear, however, that its prejudicial impact would account for the jury's ultimate guilty verdict. Another trial error considered by the Appellate Division was not raised by defendants and, indeed, was not vigorously argued before this Court. Nevertheless, it is troublesome and its resolution has entailed a close review. During the summation of defense counsel, the following occurred: As observed by the Appellate Division, this exchange could have given the jury the impression there was some duty on the part of defendants to have brought forward exculpatory scientific evidence.[2] However, immediately following the judge's informing the jury that both sides could have brought scientific evidence forward, Mr. DePalma, counsel for defendant Crowley, proceeded with his summation by telling the jury that Comments by the trial judge during summation also underscored the State's failure to produce incriminating scientific evidence.[3] During the prosecutor's summation, Mr. Egenberg, counsel for defendant Grice, objected when the prosecution made references to stains on Grice's coat because of the lack of any scientific evidence pertaining to these stains. As a result of this the following was stated in open court: This was reiterated by the court in its actual charge to the jury: "There has been no testimony with reference to stains, if any, were on the coats at the time they were taken." Both defense counsel's summation and the court's charge to the jury also clearly delineated the proper burdens of proof. Defense counsel stressed that: In its jury instructions the court explicitly reinforced all these points: The trial court's clear statement in its instructions stressing defendants' contention that sufficient reliable evidence had not been presented by the State, combined with the earlier specific direction to the jury that there was no scientific evidence concerning blood stains, neutralizes the effect of any prejudicial influence that might otherwise have arisen from the court's earlier statement. This is especially true in light of the statements by Mr. DePalma in his continued summation, which clearly emphasized the State's failure to bring forward scientific evidence. We concur in the Appellate Division's conclusion that there was no substantial prejudicial impact attributable to the errors that occurred in the course of summation. We are unable to conclude that the single remark by the trial court during summation, which was effectively overcome by later summations *390 and specific instructions, contributed to the guilty verdicts. In conclusion, we are satisfied substantially for the reasons expressed by the Appellate Division, as further explicated in this opinion, that the errors complained of and otherwise noted did not generate such a sufficient prejudicial impact as to mandate a reversal of the guilty verdicts. Accordingly, the judgments of convictions are affirmed. O'HERN, J., dissenting. In this case I am unable to concur that the trial error found by the Appellate Division and this Court was not capable of producing an unjust result. There is no litmus test that will answer such questions. In some cases the evidence of guilt is so overwhelming that none can debate the fairness of sustaining a conviction despite error. See United States v. McDaniel, 538 F.2d 408 (D.C. Cir.1976) (receipt of inadmissible evidence was harmless since other evidence of guilt was overwhelming). Both defendants in this case presented alibi defenses. While their alibis were not airtight in every detail and contained internal inconsistencies, certain facts appear to be unassailable. Grice was in the Ironbound Boys Club at 7:30 p.m.; the disinterested supervisor in charge of the Ironbound Boys Club produced the score book for that night showing that Grice had played in a basketball game that began at 6:30 p.m. The score book also showed that there had been forfeiture of a second game, thereby corroborating the testimony that Grice had played in a pickup game and had not left the Boys Club until 8:45 p.m. on that night. The Ironbound Boys Club is located in the "Down Neck" section of Newark; the crime occurred in Belleville, north of Newark, at about 9:10 p.m.; the distance between the two sites is approximately five miles. The FDR Homes, where some of Grice's teammates said they gathered with him after *391 the game, are but a short distance from the Boys Club. One such witness testified that he recalled the second game because he had been guarding Grice when Grice shot the winning basket. Crowley's defense rested on both his own testimony and that of other witnesses. His alibi was that at the time of the crime he had been watching television at a friend's apartment in the Christopher Columbus Homes. Four witnesses corroborated his account, including his friend's mother. Crowley admitted having subsequently taken the crime car, which he claimed to have found abandoned at the intersection of Duryee and Orange Streets in Newark a point midway between the Christopher Columbus Homes and his home at the Georgia King Village, and a point that he would have passed on his way home. The assisting officer, Avalone, testified that there had been a recent series of incidents in the North Newark area involving rapes "where the cars were dumped off." In challenging the State's case, the defendants had to counter strong and forceful eyewitness identifications by the victim and by a police officer who had assisted her. Here, too, there were inconsistencies. At the time of the incident, neither the victim nor the officer was able to furnish detailed descriptions of the attackers. When first brought to the hospital, the victim could describe her assailants only as two black men with no "unusual" features; "one was tall and one was short." However, Grice and Crowley are nearly identical in height. Admittedly, the brutalized victim of rape should not be expected to furnish an itemized recount of her assault, but the pursuing police officer, who was at one time within feet of the suspects, also gave no pre-arrest descriptions. The victim also testified that her assailants twice said, "[w]e don't have to take the train now." Yet, the defendants both lived relatively close to the crime scene. Although the victim's menstrual blood was found on the back seat of the car, no blood, hairs, or fibers from the victim were found on any of the clothing or person of either defendant. (Concededly they could have had time to wash or *392 dispose of the garments, but when arrested Crowley was wearing a track suit, which he said he had worn at track practice that day.) Since the violence of the crime was admitted, the case involved not a question of what degree of crime was committed, but the most fundamental of all questions: were the defendants there? Did they commit the criminal acts? Of course I agree that such factual contests must be won or lost in the courtroom, but the defendants must be free to present to the jury all logical inferences that may be drawn from the evidence. As strange as it may seem, eyewitness testimony is not as unassailable as we might wish. Both history and science have demonstrated this. "The vagaries of eyewitness identification are well-known; the annals of criminal law are rife with instances of mistaken identification." United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 228, 87 S. Ct. 1926, 1933, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1149, 1158 (1967) (footnote omitted); see Barkowitz & Brigham, Recognition of Faces: Own-Race Bias, Incentive, and Time Delay, 12 J. Applied Soc. Psychology 255, 261 (1982); Buckhout, Eyewitness Testimony, SCI. AM., Dec. 1974, at 23; (Note that the victim did use her recollection of the assailants' voices to bolster her identification.) Still, one shred of scientific evidence would have provided the strongest link to demonstrate the defendants' guilt: one telltale fiber, one human hair. See State v. Reldan, 100 N.J. 187, 194 (1985). "[A] criminal always leaves behind substances or impressions at the crime scene, and he always carries something away, no matter how minute that evidence might be." Rapps, Scientific Evidence in Rape Prosecution, 48 UMKC Law Rev. 216, 227 (1980) (footnote omitted). Blood, hairs, and fibers are often "transferred from the victim to the assailant." Tucker, The Use of Scientific Evidence in Rape Prosecutions, 18 U.Rich.L.Rev. 851, 860, 863, 867 (1984). In this case, the police had taken defendants' underwear "for analysis." Defense counsel should have been free to argue that there was no *393 telltale scientific link between the defendants and the crime. Counsel for defendant Crowley was at a critical stage in seeking to influence the sensitive process of jury deliberations in this case. He had reached the point in his summation when he asked the jury to consider the relative credibility of the witnesses and then "once that determination is made, you have to determine whether or not there are any doubts." When he started to say, "Let's look at the scientific evidence ," the prosecutor objected. The court concluded that since both parties had the opportunity to produce scientific evidence, defense counsel could not comment on its absence. After discussing the inconclusive nature of the scientific evidence ["there was no evidence either definitely linking defendants to or excluding them from participation in the crime"], the Appellate Division ruled: Of course, the identification issue was for the jury, but counsel should have been free to address the jury as entitled by law. This Court recognizes the same errors, but it too believes that the errors were incapable of producing an unjust result. The prosecutor knew the significance of this issue. In her closing, she made reference to the fact that "the State didn't produce scientific evidence. Why?" She answered her own question this way: "Because they got up and said to you there is no question there was a rape." That was not the effect that *394 comment about scientific evidence might have had on the jury, for everyone knew that there had been a rape. The defendants should have been free to argue that the absence of any scientific evidence connecting them to the rape cast doubt on the reliability of the identifications and gave credence to their alibi defenses. The significance of the trial court's ruling was highlighted in a later exchange between the State and the defense. When defense counsel objected to the State's being permitted to infer that stains on the perpetrators' coats were blood, counsel for defendant Grice protested: Indeed, the Appellate Division and this Court hold that the the jacket itself was erroneously admitted into evidence, since it was Crowley's father's jacket and there was no reliable proof that Crowley had ever worn it, much less that it had blood on it. Of course, none of this establishes that defendants are innocent. I realize that the human horror of this case makes us recoil from the order of a retrial. Still, "[t]he accused, no matter how abhorrent the offense charged nor how seemingly evident the guilt, is entitled to a fair trial * * *." State v. Orecchio, 16 N.J. 125, 129 (1954). I simply cannot determine with certainty how the jury would have resolved this case had counsel been free to argue the issues as they wished. As we explained in State v. Ramseur, 106 N.J. 123 (1987), *395 This Court has always placed an extraordinarily high premium on the jury's correct understanding that defendants have no burden to clear themselves of guilt. See State v. Spano, 64 N.J. 566 (1974). Thus, I cannot conclude with certainty that the error that the Court recognizes could not have affected the outcome of the trial or have led "the jury to a result it otherwise might not have reached." State v. Macon, 57 N.J. 325, 336 (1971). For affirmance Justices HANDLER, POLLOCK, GARIBALDI and STEIN 4. For reversal and remandment Chief Justice WILENTZ, and Justices CLIFFORD and O'HERN 3. [1] The lack of detail in the post-assault description is also explained by the fact that the victim was never asked to give a detailed description of her assailants. The brief description discussed above was obtained by the victim's tenant, a police officer, who testified that he did not attempt to elicit a more detailed description since at that time the victim was hysterical and awaiting medical treatment. Defendants were arrested less than three hours later. [2] The Appellate Division requested and reviewed the scientific evidence that had been furnished to defendants in discovery, and concluded that it was "essentially equivocal." Although there were blood and seminal stains on the victim's clothing, analysis of these stains was inconclusive since the victim and defendant Grice have the same blood type and defendant Crowley is a non-secretor whose blood type cannot be determined from semen traces. Furthermore, tests failed to uncover any traces of foreign body hair on the victim, despite the fact that it is uncontested that she was raped. [3] Defense counsel have argued that they were prevented from arguing to the jury that an adverse inference could be drawn from the failure of the State to produce scientific evidence. In fact, defense counsel reiterated to the jury the failure of the State to produce such evidence, supra at 386-387, and further discussed in detail the lack of scientific evidence concerning the composition of the stains on a jacket admitted into evidence. Infra at 388.