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THE STATEMENT GIVEN BY THE DEFENDANT WHEN HE WAS UNDER MEDICATION AT THE HOSPITAL SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED; AT TRIAL THE JURY SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO REJECT THE STATEMENT IF THEY FOUND IT WAS INVOLUNTARILY MADE; AND THE DEFENSE BATSON CHALLENGE TO THE EXCLUSION OF FOUR AFRICAN-AMERICAN PROSPECTIVE JURORS SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined: (1) the statement given by the defendant when he was under medication at the hospital should have been suppressed; (2) at trial the judge should have instructed the jury to reject the statement if they found the statement was not voluntarily made; and (3) the defense Batson challenge to the prosecutor’s exclusion of four African-American prospective jurors should have been granted:

At the time of the interrogation, the defendant had recently been in a medically induced coma, had come out of surgery only hours before, and his condition “was still sufficiently serious that he was in the intensive care unit” … . The defendant “was lying on his back on a hospital bed, encumbered by tubes, needles, and breathing apparatus” when the detective approached him … . At the time of the police questioning, the defendant was drowsy from painkillers administered to him, his right arm was handcuffed to the hospital bed, and his left arm was bandaged and immobilized from the earlier surgery. The defendant was positioned upright so that the detective could question him, and when the defendant expressed that this caused him pain and requested medical assistance, the detective denied the request and coerced the defendant by stating that he would obtain medical assistance after he had questioned the defendant. * * *

Where, as here, the defendant has placed in issue the voluntariness of his statements to law enforcement officials, “the court must submit such issue to the jury under instructions to disregard such evidence upon a finding that the statement was involuntarily made” … . * * *

… [T]he record demonstrates that the articulated reasons were not applied equally to exclude other prospective jurors … . Under these circumstances, the prosecutor’s explanations as to the four prospective jurors were pretextual, and the defendant is entitled to a new trial on this ground … . People v Parker, 2024 NY Slip Op 00783, Second Dept 2-14-24

Practice Point: The statement given by defendant when he was under medication at the hospital should have been suppressed.

Practice Point: At trial, where defendant has placed the voluntariness of his statement in issue, the jury must be instructed to reject the statement if they find it was not voluntarily made.

Practice Point: Here the prosecutor accepted a juror who was a college student living at home but who was not African-American, and the prosecutor rejected four African-American prospective jurors because they were college students living at home with limited life experience. The Batson challenge should have been granted.

 

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