Court Opinion

ID: 9879693
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-27 18:35:42.579323+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:47:59.977197
License: Public Domain

Hall, J., dissents, and votes to reverse the judgment, on the law and the facts, vacate the determination denying that branch of the defendant’s omnibus motion which was to suppress his statement to law enforcement officials, and remit the matter to the Supreme Court, Kings County, for further proceedings in accordance with People v LaFontaine (92 NY2d 470, 474-475 [1998]), with the following memorandum: I agree with my colleagues in the majority that the People did not commit a Brady violation (see Brady v Maryland, 373 US 83 [1963]) by failing to disclose the contact information of potential witnesses. I also agree with my colleagues that we are precluded from reviewing the issue of whether the defendant was illegally arrested, as the Supreme Court decided this issue in favor of the defendant, who is the appellant in this case. Contrary to the conclusion of my colleagues, however, I believe that the court erred in determining that the causal connection between the illegal arrest and the defendant’s statement was sufficiently attenuated so as to purge the taint of the illegal arrest. Cases that have found sufficient attenuation between an unlawful arrest and a custodial statement have generally involved an intervening event, which could be deemed the precipitating cause of the statement, other than: (1) the passage of several hours; (2) the fact that the statement was elicited by a detective who was not one of the arresting officers; and (3) the fact that Miranda warnings (see Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436 [1966]) were given. For example, in People v Bradford (15 NY3d 329, 334 [2010]), the subject confession was made after the defendant was confronted with statements of the victim and the victim’s sister, which statements had been obtained independent of the defendant’s detention. And in People v Rogers (52 NY2d 527, 533 [1981]), the challenged statements were made after the defendant was confronted with lawfully obtained physical evidence and after the defendant had a conversation with his brother, who was a police officer. Here, there was no such intervening event. The facts that Chun Zhang had recognized the defendant on the street as the perpetrator, followed him to the 52nd Street building, and called 911 were all known to the police prior to the arrest, and in fact, were the basis for the arrest. I further submit that the showup identification that occurred immediately after the arrest cannot be deemed an intervening event because the showup identification, which was conceded by the People to have been suggestive, flowed directly from the arrest. Under the circumstances, the fact of the showup identification does not “justif[y] the conclusion that [the subsequent statement] was not the product of the illegal” arrest (id. at 533). Without such an intervening event, courts have generally-found insufficient attenuation to purge the taint of an illegal arrest (see Taylor v Alabama, 457 US 687, 691-692 [1982] [finding insufficient attenuation between an illegal arrest and a confession even though: (1) six hours had passed between the arrest and the confession; (2) the defendant had been given Miranda warnings three times; and (3) the defendant was visited by his girlfriend and a male companion immediately before making the confession]; People v Harris, 77 NY2d 434, 441 [1991]; People v Newson, 155 AD3d 768 [2d Dept 2017] [finding insufficient attenuation notwithstanding: (1) the passage of approximately nine hours between the arrest and the challenged statements; (2) the fact that the detective who elicited the challenged statements was not one of the arresting officers; and (3) the fact that Miranda warnings were given before the statements were made]; People v Gundersen, 255 AD2d 454, 454-455 [1998] [finding insufficient attenuation between an illegal arrest and a statement where there were no significant intervening events despite the passage of several hours between the arrest and the statement and despite the fact that Miranda warnings had been issued]). Finally, contrary to the determination of my colleagues in the majority, I believe that the police misconduct identified by the Supreme Court was flagrant. The court’s finding that the arrest was illegal was not based solely on the court’s conclusion that the arrest was made in the defendant’s home in violation of Payton v New York (445 US 573 [1980]). The finding was also based on its conclusion that, at the time of the arrest, the police lacked probable cause to believe that the defendant had committed a crime (see CPL 140.10; People v De Bour, 40 NY2d 210, 223 [1976]). For the foregoing reasons, I vote to reverse the judgment appealed from and vacate the determination denying that branch of the defendant’s omnibus motion which was to suppress his statement to law enforcement officials. In order to give the People an opportunity to seek reexamination of the issue of whether the arrest was unlawful, an issue that we cannot reach on this appeal, I further vote to remit the matter to the Supreme Court, Kangs County, for further proceedings in accordance with People v LaFontaine (92 NY2d 470, 474-475 [1998]).