United States ex rel. McChesney v. Mancusi
United States ex rel. McChesney v. Mancusi
Opinion of the Court
Petitioner, Jerry McChesney, is one of three defendants who were convicted in 1961 of murder in the first degree in the former Court of General Sessions, New York County, New York State. In the instance of petitioner, the jury recommended life imprisonment and that sentence was imposed; he is presently confined at Attica Correctional Facility. Petitioner has never appealed from his conviction. No recommendation was made as to his codefendants, Hill and Catanzaro, and each was sentenced to death; the sentences were subsequently commuted to life imprisonment. Hill and Catanzaro appealed from their judgments of conviction, which were affirmed.
The scene then shifted to the federal courts. Catanzaro and Hill, in separate habeas corpus proceedings, challenged their respective judgments of conviction upon various grounds, including perjury by Gibbs, one of the prosecution’s chief witnesses. Catanzaro’s petition was denied, whereas Hill’s was sustained upon his claim that the denial of his motion for a severance, in view of the introduction in evidence of confessions by petitioner and Catanzaro, neither of whom testified, violated Hill’s right to a fair trial and his right of confrontation under the Sixth Amendment.
“Catanzaro’s codefendant Hill raised the same issue in his petition for habeas corpus. After a full evidentiary hearing, the court concluded that whatever error might have been committed was ‘insufficient in itself to warrant granting of the writ.’
“There is nothing in the record to indicate that the district attorney consciously or intentionally used perjured testimony. . . . Nor is there anything in the record to indicate that the district attorney suppressed evidence of Gibbs’ criminal record. . . . It was through the disclosure of the district attorney to the court that the defendants learned of Gibbs’ perjury and of his undisclosed criminal record.
*327 “ . . . We conclude that there was no such ‘transgress [ion] of the imperatives of fundamental justice’ .”8
After our Court of Appeals had affirmed the dismissal of Catanzaro’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, the petitioner herein applied in the New York Supreme Court for a writ of error coram nobis, alleging that (1) his conviction had been obtained as a result of Gibbs’ perjurious testimony; (2) unconstitutional lineup identification procedures had been used, and (3) he was unlawfully deprived of his right to appeal through the action of his assigned counsel. His application for the writ was denied without a hearing in February 1970, affirmed upon appeal by the Appellate Division in June 1971,
McChesney’s first constitutional challenge parallels that heretofore made by his codefendants Catanzaro and Hill. He alleges that “the use of perjured testimony by the prosecution” deprived him of his right to a fair trial.
The substance of petitioner’s contention of alleged prosecutorial misconduct or negligence was urged before Judge Frankel,
Finally, as the State points out, with Gibbs’ testimony admissible against petitioner, as it was against Hill, as to whom the trial evidence “was slight,”
Petitioner next contends that the police lineup procedure the day following his arrest,
Petitioner alleges that at the police station Gibbs looked at several people (the record indicates there were eight or ten persons) in a room through a small window in a door, and that upon his trial Gibbs originally identified all three defendants, but later, on recross examination, testified that only two of the defendants, petitioner and Catanzaro, were in the room. The contradictory testimony, which was thoroughly probed into, was before the jury and by itself does not establish a due process violation.
Petitioner’s final challenge to the judgment of conviction is based upon the fact that no appeal was taken therefrom. His petition alleges that “no notice of appeal was filed by relator’s counsel, due to [his] lack of legal knowledge and formal education, he erroneously believed he would receive a new trial and no appeal was taken.”
Under all the circumstances, petitioner’s failure to submit an affidavit from any of his four attorneys either as to his right to appeal or as to alleged statements about a new trial, or to offer any explanation for the absence of such supporting affidavits,
The petition is dismissed.
. People v. Hill, 13 N.Y.2d 842, 242 N.Y.S.2d 358, 192 N.E.2d 232 (1963).
. Catanzaro v. New York, 378 U.S. 573, 84 S.Ct. 1931, 12 L.Ed.2d 1040 (1964).
. See People v. Huntley, 15 N.Y.2d 72, 255 N.Y.S.2d 838, 204 N.E.2d 179 (1965).
. People v. Hill, 17 N.Y.2d 185, 269 N.Y.S.2d 422, 216 N.E.2d 588 (1966).
. Catanzaro v. New York, 385 U.S. 875, 87 S.Ct. 152, 17 L.Ed.2d 102 (1966).
. United States ex rel. Hill v. Deegan, 268 F.Supp. 580 (S.D.N.Y. 1967).
. Subsequently, Catanzaro filed a new petition alleging that the prosecution knowingly permitted Gibbs to perjure himself. This court dismissed the petition upon the ground that it “adds no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct to that revealed at the hearing for petitioner’s codefendant Hill.” However, the Court of Appeals, on July 15, 1970, remanded “for an evidentiary hearing with reference to petitioner’s claim that the State knowingly used perjured evidence at his trial . ” After considerable delay in bringing the matter on for a hearing, this court directed that petitioner proceed on September 6, 1972. On that day petitioner’s counsel said he was not ready to proceed since Gibbs, whose testimony was deemed essential to support petitioner’s claim, was unavailable and could not be located. The matter was adjourned to the following day to enable petitioner and his counsel to confer, and it was then stated again that petitioner could not proceed in view of Gibbs’ absence, and accordingly the petition was dismissed without prejudice to renewal.
. United States ex rel. Catanzaro v. Mancusi, 404 F.2d 296, 300 (2d Cir. 1968).
. People v. McChesney, 37 A.D.2d 679, 322 N.Y.S.2d 647 (1st Dep’t 1971).
. Petition, ¶ 7.
. Moore v. Illinois, 408 U.S. 786, 795, 92 S.Ct. 2562, 33 L.Ed.2d 706 (1972).
. Cf. United States ex rel. Hill v. Deegan, 268 F.Supp. 580, 591 (S.D.N.Y. 1967), where Judge Frankel observed: “Assuming it might be desirable to have prosecutors investigate and disclose criminal records of their witnesses, the Fourteenth Amendment does not command that this be done.”
. The contention which Hill there made was that due process underlying such cases as Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264, 79 S.Ct. 1173, 3 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1959); Miller v. Pate, 386 U.S. 1, 86 S.Ct. 1935, 17 L.Ed.2d 690 (1967), “may fairly be extended to apply to information reasonably available to the prosecution and not available to the defense — whether or not the prosecution bothers to obtain the evidence which is within its grasp.” 268 F.Supp. at 590.
. United States v. Consolidated Laundries Corp., 291 F.2d 563, 571 (2d Cir. 1961); United States v. Kyle, 266 F.2d 670 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 870, 80 S.Ct. 131, 4 L.Ed.2d 109 (1959).
. Cf. Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264, 269, 79 S.Ct. 1173, 3 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1959); Miller v. Pate, 386 U.S. 1, 86 S.Ct. 1935, 17 L.Ed.2d 690 (1967); United States ex rel. Meers v. Wilkens, 326 F.2d 135 (2d Cir. 1964); People v. Savvides, 1 N.Y.2d 554, 154 N.Y.S.2d 885, 136 N.E.2d 853 (1956). See also United States v. Keogh, 391 F.2d 138, 146 (2d Cir. 1968).
. United States ex rel. Hill v. Deegan, 268 F.Supp. 580, 590 (S.D.N.Y. 1967).
. Id.
. Id. at 597.
. There were 2 written question and answer confessions ; also, oral admissions to police officers.
. The lineup antedated United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967).
. 388 U.S. 293, 301-302, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 1972, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967).
. Petitioner, as to this claim, as well as to his others, makes statements in his memorandum of law that are not contained in his verified petition.
. Cf. Kapatos v. United States, 432 F.2d 110, 113-14 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 909, 91 S.Ct. 867, 27 L.Ed.2d 806 (1971); Parker v. United
. Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 301, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967).
. Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 384, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968).
. United States es rel. Springle v. Follette, 435 F.2d 1380 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 980, 91 S.Ct. 1214, 28 L. E.2d 331 (1971); United States ex rel. Phipps v. Follette, 428 F.2d 912 (2d Cir. 1970).
. Petition, ¶ 5.
. United States ex rel. Smith v. McMann, 417 F.2d 648, 655 (2d Cir. 1969) (on banc), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 925, 90 S.Ct. 929, 25 L.Ed.2d 105 (1970).
. Sentencing minutes, p. 8, Feb. 19, 1962.
. Sentencing minutes, p. 6, Feb. 19, 1962.
. Sentencing minutes, pp. 10-11, Jan. 15, 1902. Catanzaro sought, contrary to the advice of his attorneys, to withdraw this motion, but the court denied it. Sentencing minutes, p. 6, Feb. 19, 1962.
. United States ex rel. Roldan v. Follette, 450 F.2d 514, 517 (2d Cir. 1971); United States v. Welton, 439 F.2d 824, 826 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 859, 92 S.Ct. 157, 30 L.Ed.2d 102 (1971); cf. United States ex rel. Cummings v. McMann, 429 F.2d 1295 (2d Cir. 1970); United States ex rel. Rosen v. Follette, 409 F.2d 1042, 1044-1045 (2d Cir. 1969) (an banc), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 930, 90 S.Ct. 1822, 26 L.Ed.2d 93 (1970).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Jerry McCHESNEY v. Vincent R. MANCUSI, Superintendent of Attica Correctional Facility, Attica, N. Y.
- Status
- Published