Opinion ID: 216020
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Wood's Appeals

Text: Wood appealed his conviction to the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, claiming that the admission of his videotaped statement violated his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment right to counsel. Wood, 835 N.Y.S.2d at 414. The Appellate Division held that the admission of Wood's statement violated his constitutional rights, but concluded that the error was harmless. Id. at 414-15. Wood's application for leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals was denied. People v. Wood, 9 N.Y.3d 928, 844 N.Y.S.2d 182, 875 N.E.2d 901 (2007). On November 25, 2008, Wood petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the Eastern District of New York. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court agreed with Wood and the Appellate Division that Wood's statement I think I should get a lawyer was an unequivocal invocation of counsel and, therefore, that his videotaped statement should have been suppressed. Wood, 2009 WL 1652179, at . Nevertheless, like the state appellate court, it determined that the error did not have a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict and was therefore harmless. Id. at  (internal quotation marks omitted). This appeal followed.