Opinion ID: 768725
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Robbery and Preliminary Investigation

Text: 4 On February 3, 1995, Officers Lipp and Woroniecki of the Franklin Township (New Jersey) Police Department responded to a call reporting an armed robbery at the Great Expressions Floral Shop in the Franklin Towne Center. Detective Woroniecki interviewed Renee Braverman, the owner of the shop, and Graham Druce, an employee in the shop. They both said that the robber was in the store from a little before 3:00 pm until approximately 3:50 pm. When the robber entered the shop, Braverman was discussing a bridal order with a customer. Several times during the robber's visit, Druce approached him and asked him if he needed assistance, which he repeatedly declined. The bridal order customer left around 3:50, and the robber brought a glass vase and candle to the counter, behind which Braverman was standing. The robber asked Druce, who was standing in the back room, if the candle would cause the glass vase to break. When Druce walked towards the counter the robber put his left hand on Druce's right shoulder and told Braverman to empty the register quickly and put the money in a brown paper bag along with the candle and vase. Druce and Braverman both said they saw a small revolver in his right hand. 5 Braverman, a white woman who is around five six, described the robber as a light skinned black male, approximately 30 years old, very tall, between 6'2 and 6'4, between 190 and 200 pounds, with black wavy hair, a waist-length light denim jacket, cream colored sweater, and blue denim jeans. Druce, a five-five, five-six white man, described the robber as a very tall male, light black in color, his middle 20s, about 25, about 6'5 tall, maybe a little bit taller. He told the police the robber had an athletic build, was clean shaven, had well groomed short hair and was wearing a blue denim jacket, blue denim jeans, and sneakers. Druce said that if he saw a picture of the robber he was absolutely certain he could pick him out because of his noticeable height. 6 Detective Bisignio, also of the Franklin Township Police, canvassed the area for witnesses. Kelly N. DaVila, who worked in a nearby dental office, told him that she had seen a dental patient named Franklin Wilson in the Franklin Center, walking away from the Mayfair Foodtown Area towards a pizza shop after 3:00 that day, probably about a half hour before the police officers arrived (making her estimated viewing around 3:30). She described Wilson as a 6'0 tall, clean shaven, thin, light-skinned black man with brown hair and brown eyes. She told Bisignio that he had some entanglement with heroin because his dental records indicated that he was seeking methadone treatment. 7 Bisignio relayed this information to Woroniecki, who conducted a criminal history and Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) check of Wilson. The criminal history report listed Wilson as being 5'10 and weighing 160 pounds. The DMV record apparently listed him as being 5'11. Woroniecki received a photograph of Wilson from the Middlesex County Identification Bureau, which he took to the Somerset County Sheriff 's Office in order to compile a photographic lineup. The office compiling the photographic array was apparently not aware of the physical descriptions of the witnesses. On the afternoon of February 6, Woroniecki fell ill and ceased all involvement in the investigation of the floral shop robbery. 8 Detective Russo took over the investigation. On February 6, he was provided with Officer Lipp's report and the photographic array from the Somerset County Sheriff 's Office. Lipp's report includes a summary of the robbery and a description of the robber that combined the Druce and Braverman physical descriptions. The report identifies the robber as between 6'3 and 6'5. It does not mention DaVila's assertion that she saw Wilson. Russo claimed that he did not review any other officer's notes. He testified that he reviewed and authorized the photographic array without knowing what the witnesses had said about the robber. 9 Russo showed the photographic array to Braverman and Druce individually. He told them each that the robber might not be in the array, and that if they were to identify anyone they must be one hundred percent certain that the person they were identifying was the person who robbed them. Braverman immediately selected Wilson's photograph as representing the robber. Druce studied the array for about two minutes, indicating no recognition, and finally concluded that he could not say with certainty that he recognized the robber among them. 10 Russo testified that he does not remember whether he knew Wilson's height and weight when he applied for the warrant. When questioned during deposition about whether he knew Wilson's actual height and weight, he said Well, it'd probably be on the driver's license abstract because I obtained that actually just for his address. In his response to Russo's summary judgment motion, Wilson made the uncontroverted assertion that this information is on the driver's abstract. 11