Opinion ID: 782712
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Alleged Existence of Undisclosed Promises of Leniency

Text: 36 Petitioner argues that the District Attorney's Office made undisclosed promises of leniency to Landers and Pullum with respect to their pending criminal cases in exchange for their testimony at his trial. However, Petitioner cites insufficient evidence to disturb the trial court's factual finding that the District Attorney's Office made no such promises to Landers and Pullum. 37 Christopher Ulrich, who prosecuted petitioner's case, testified at the state court's evidentiary hearing on petitioner's motion for post-conviction relief under New York Criminal Procedure Law § 440.10. Ulrich testified that he made no promises to Landers and Pullum in exchange for their testimony. In fact, Ulrich testified that he explicitly informed Landers and Pullum that there would be no promises with respect to the dispositions of their pending cases. Justice Moskowitz, who also presided over petitioner's criminal trial, accepted the truth of Ulrich's testimony. Credibility determinations are properly within the province of the state court that presided over the trial and evidentiary hearing. See Patton v. Yount, 467 U.S. 1025, 1038, 104 S.Ct. 2885, 81 L.Ed.2d 847 (1984); United States v. Yousef, 327 F.3d 56, 124 (2d Cir.2003). While [d]eference does not by definition preclude relief, Miller-El, 123 S.Ct. at 1041, we see no basis for finding that the state court clearly erred by accepting Ulrich's testimony. 38 Petitioner also relies upon the fact that Landers's and Pullum's criminal cases were repeatedly adjourned until after his trial. While the Case Status and Action Reports reveal that the District Attorney's Office intended to dispose of these cases after Landers and Pullum testified at petitioner's trial, the adjournments themselves do not evidence that the District Attorney's Office promised these witnesses leniency in exchange for their cooperation, as both sides had independent incentives to resolve these cases after petitioner's trial. 39 Landers's and Pullum's attorneys had an interest in seeking the adjournments so that they could argue at sentencing that their clients' cooperation warranted leniency. Attorney Barry Weiss, who represented Pullum, testified before the state court that it was his practice to bring to the court's attention any information that would assist his client in obtaining a favorable disposition, which would presumably include cooperation with the District Attorney's Office. The witnesses' general and hopeful expectation of leniency is not enough to create an agreement or an understanding that they would, in fact, receive leniency in exchange for their testimony. Collier v. Davis, 301 F.3d 843, 849 (7th Cir.2002), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 123 S.Ct. 1290, 154 L.Ed.2d 1054 (2003); see also Hill v. Johnson, 210 F.3d 481, 486 & n. 1 (5th Cir.2000) (stating that only an express agreement between the [s]tate and a witness, not a witness'[s] `nebulous expectation of help from the state,' constitutes Brady material); Mastrian v. McManus, 554 F.2d 813, 823 (8th Cir.1977) (declining to read Giglio to support [the] claim that a crucial witness's expectation of leniency must be revealed absent evidence of an express or implied promise). 40 At the same time, the District Attorney's Office had an incentive to delay the disposition of these cases in order to ensure Landers's and Pullum's continued cooperation. The existence of a pending prosecution against a government witness provides an inherent incentive for cooperation, and this incentive — namely the pending charges against both Landers and Pullum — was disclosed to petitioner. 4 Given that they had failed to make their own court appearances, the District Attorney's Office could reasonably have been concerned that Landers and Pullum, whose testimony was critical, may fail to appear at petitioner's trial, absent the implicit threat posed by their own impending prosecutions. While the District Attorney's Office's desire to adjourn Landers's and Pullum's cases may have given the impression that they would receive favorable treatment in exchange for their testimony, the adjournments themselves do not evidence an agreement. This is especially true in light of Ulrich's testimony — which the state court accepted as true — that he explicitly informed both Landers and Pullum that he would not promise them anything with respect to their pending cases in exchange for their testimony against petitioner. 41 Petitioner relies upon comments of the state court judges presiding over Landers's and Pullum's cases, as well as notations in the defendants' case files. 5 Specifically, Justice Feldman, who presided over Landers's and Pullum's cases, said during a pre-trial hearing, I understand there is some possibility that you may be getting some kind of break. The judge who took Landers's plea noted that Landers had made a lot of [deals] here. Petitioner also relies upon the fact that the prosecutors handling these cases repeatedly told the judges that both defendants were cooperating witnesses in a homicide investigation. However, the state court found that there were no promises of leniency and that the judges merely assumed that Landers and Pullum were subject to plea agreements. We see no reason to disregard this finding of fact, as there is no evidence that the District Attorney's Office ever represented to the court that Landers and Pullum would receive leniency in exchange for their testimony. Rather, the record reflects that the District Attorney's Office informed the court that Landers and Pullum were cooperating in petitioner's case to justify the adjournments. 42 Finally, Petitioner attempts to establish that the District Attorney's Office promised Landers and Pullum leniency in exchange for their testimony by virtue of the fact that both actually received favorable treatment. Petitioner points out that, prior to his trial, both Landers and Pullum were initially released on their own recognizance. However, the District Attorney's Office opposed Landers's request for release on his own recognizance. The District Attorney's Office was also opposed to any reduction in [Landers's] bail, which had been set at $1,500. The fact that the District Attorney's Office did not intervene when Landers and Pullum were arrested on bench warrants and charged with additional offenses, both of which occurred prior to their testimony, belies the existence of an arrangement between the District Attorney's Office and the witnesses. 43 Petitioner also emphasizes that Landers and Pullum received favorable treatment after they testified. Both were released from incarceration on their own recognizance shortly after petitioner was convicted. They also received favorable dispositions of their criminal cases. Landers pleaded guilty and received a sentence of time served and five years probation. Pullum also pleaded guilty and received an unconditional discharge. The record supports petitioner's contention that Landers and Pullum received favorable treatment because of their cooperation. However, the state court accepted Ulrich's explanation that he may have made sentencing recommendations in Landers's and Pullum's cases in light of their truthful testimony against the defendant. The district court, in evaluating the state court's findings of fact, concluded that the record reflects that the District Attorney afforded Landers and Pullum special attention and consideration. Indeed, the conclusion that Landers and Pullum received favorable treatment because of their cooperation is inescapable. Ulrich — the same assistant district attorney who prosecuted petitioner's case — monitored Landers's and Pullum's cases. Ulrich appeared at Landers's sentencing and recommended the lenient sentence because he believed that [i]f the person had testified truthfully,... they deserved some sort of break on their case. Ulrich also approved the District Attorney's Office's recommendation concerning Pullum's lenient sentence. 44 Thus, petitioner is correct that Landers and Pullum received a benefit because they testified against him. However, this fact, standing alone, does not establish that, prior to petitioner's trial, the District Attorney's Office promised Landers and Pullum leniency. The government is free to reward witnesses for their cooperation with favorable treatment in pending criminal cases without disclosing to the defendant its intention to do so, provided that it does not promise anything to the witnesses prior to their testimony. That is not to say that a prosecutor may circumvent his Brady obligations by failing to reduce to writing a plea agreement or a promise of leniency. Nor may a prosecutor avoid his duty of disclosure by phrasing a promise of favorable treatment in general terms. See DuBose v. Lefevre, 619 F.2d 973, 979 (2d Cir.1980) (The prosecution cannot, by keeping its promises of consideration to a witness general in language or tone, escape the fact that it gives the witness reason to believe that his or her testimony will lead to favorable treatment by the State. Unquestionably, agreements in general terms to reward testimony by consideration create an incentive on the witness'[s] part to testify favorably to the State and the existence of such an understanding is important for purposes of impeachment.). We hold only that the fact that a prosecutor afforded favorable treatment to a government witness, standing alone, does not establish the existence of an underlying promise of leniency in exchange for testimony. 6 45