People v. GrigoroffPeople v. Grigoroff
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law and as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and a new trial is ordered.
The defendant, in the course of a 12-hour interrogation during which he was interviewed by multiple teams of police investigators, gave statements to the police concerning the homicide which is the subject of this case. Those statements indicated that the defendant, his identical twin brother, and an individual named Byron Mountain entered a parking lot outside of the Garrison Garage (hereinafter the garage) in Putnam County and parked their vehicle there with the intention of burglarizing an office located on the premises. The defendant remained in the vehicle while his brother served as a lookout. Mountain was in the process of walking around the exterior of the garage when an individual arrived in a tow truck and confronted Mountain. Mountain produced a gun from his waistband and shot the individual, who later died.
The defendant was charged with murder in the second degree (felony murder), criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and two counts of attempted burglary in the second degree. Neither Mountain nor the defendant’s identical twin brother was charged with any crime relating to this incident. Prior to his trial, the defendant moved to, inter alia, suppress the statements he made to police on the ground that those statements were involuntarily obtained. After a hearing at which both the defendant and police witnesses gave conflicting testimony, the court denied that branch of the defendant’s omnibus motion.
At the defendant’s trial, the primary evidence admitted against him was the statements that he made to law enforcement officials. The defendant testified on his own behalf, maintaining that he was coerced into giving the statements to the police and that he was innocent of the charges against him. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts.
On appeal, the defendant initially contends that the court
Here, the defendant testified at the suppression hearing that his police interrogators failed to give him Miranda warnings (see Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436 [1966]) prior to questioning him, and that they repeatedly promised him that if he told the truth he would be released and would serve no time in jail. However, the testimony of the law enforcement witnesses contradicted these aspects of the defendant’s account. The police witnesses testified that the defendant was given Miranda warnings prior to the interrogation and that these warnings were repeated at various times throughout the questioning. The police witnesses also denied that any promises were made to the defendant. The hearing court found the defendant’s version of the events unpersuasive and specifically credited the testimony of the law enforcement officials.
The conflicting testimony adduced at the suppression hearing presented a credibility question for the hearing court (see e.g. People v Granger, 122 AD3d 940, 940-941 [2014]). In reviewing a hearing court’s factual determinations based largely upon an assessment of credibility, the determination of the trier of fact is ordinarily accorded great weight (see Matter of Robert D., 69 AD3d 714, 716 [2010]; cf. People v Bennett, 57 AD3d 912, 912 [2008]; People v Lopez, 95 AD2d 241, 252 [1983]). Although, upon the exercise of our factual review power, this Court may make its own findings of fact if it determines that the hearing court incorrectly assessed the evidence (see People v Lewis, 117 AD3d 751, 752 [2014]), we discern no basis on this record to disturb the hearing court’s factual determination (see People v Fox, 123 AD3d 844, 845-846 [2014]; People v Granger, 122 AD3d at 940-941; People v Lewis, 117 AD3d at 752).
Furthermore, contrary to the defendant’s contention, the record of the suppression hearing does not show, as a matter of
The defendant’s challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence is unpreserved for appellate review (see
However, the judgment must be reversed and a new trial ordered based on the Supreme Court’s error in admitting testimony regarding a separate shooting that occurred prior to the events underlying this case. In this regard, the People were permitted to elicit testimony to show that the defendant’s identical twin brother shot an individual, less than two months before the incident at the garage, in an unrelated matter. Contrary to the People’s contention, the defendant preserved his objection to this testimony by objecting on the specific ground now raised on appeal, and by asking for the testimony to be stricken and for a curative instruction (see
“Evidence of uncharged crimes or crimes committed by a person other than the defendant is generally inadmissible because it is highly prejudicial with little probative value” (People v Exum, 208 AD2d 557, 558 [1994]). Here, the evidence of the unrelated shooting was admitted in response to evidence introduced by the defense to show that the defendant and his uncharged accomplices exhibited a calm demeanor shortly after the shooting at the garage and that such a demeanor was
Evidence that the defendant’s identical twin brother had perpetrated a separate shooting less than two months prior to the shooting in this case was highly prejudicial to the defendant and had no bearing whatsoever on the defendant’s culpability for the crimes charged (see People v Thompson, 75 AD2d 830 [1980]; People v Roland, 40 AD2d 1007 [1972]). This evidence “served no purpose other than to raise an inference of guilt by association” (People v Roland, 40 AD2d at 1007-1008; cf. People v Williams, 45 AD3d 1466, 1467-1468 [2007]). Accordingly, the Supreme Court erred in permitting the People to elicit such evidence inasmuch as the unfair prejudice to the defendant far exceeded its probative value (see generally People v Agina, 103 AD3d 739, 743 [2013]).
We further conclude that the trial court erred in permitting the People to introduce the testimony of a witness who stated that she attended a party where she overheard the defendant’s identical twin brother make a statement indicating that he was involved in the shooting at the garage. The People failed to adequately demonstrate that this testimony fell within an exception to the hearsay rule (cf. Tennessee v Street, 471 US 409 [1985]; People v Bryant, 39 AD3d 768 [2007]). In any event, the prejudicial effect of this testimony outweighed its probative value.
Under the circumstances of this case, these errors were not harmless. The only evidence linking the defendant to this crime consisted of the statements made by the defendant to the police, which were contradicted by the defendant’s testimony at trial and by the testimony of other witnesses and evidence presented by the defendant (cf. People v Ryan, 17 AD3d 1, 6-7 [2005]). Given this conflicting evidence as to whether the defendant was involved in the shooting at the garage, the evidence of his guilt was not overwhelming and, thus, “there is no occasion for consideration of any doctrine of harmless error” (People v Crimmins, 36 NY2d 230, 241 [1975]). Even assuming that there was overwhelming evidence of guilt, we cannot conclude that there was no significant probability that the jury would have acquitted the defendant had it not been for these errors (see People v Ayala, 75 NY2d 422, 431 [1990]; People v Agina, 103 AD3d at 743). Accordingly, reversal is required and the matter must be remitted for a new trial.
Chambers, J.P., Hall, Cohen and Miller, JJ., concur.