United States of America Ex Rel. Robert J. Ward, Petitioner-Appellat v. Vincent R. Mancusi, Warden of Attica State Prison, Attica, New York, 414 F.2d 87, 2d Cir. (1969)

414 F.
2d 87
UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Robert J. WARD,

Petitioner-Appellat,
v.
Vincent R. MANCUSI, Warden of Attica State Prison, Attica,
New York, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 628, Docket 31832.
United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued June 9, 1969.
Decided July 24, 1969.
Bruce K. Carpenter, Buffalo, N.Y. (The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo,

Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., on the brief), for appellant.
Robert S. Hammer, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Louis J. Lefkowitz, Atty. Gen. of the
State of New York, Samuel A. Hirshowitz, First Asst. Atty. Gen. and
Philip Kahaner, Asst. Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellee.
Before MOORE, SMITH and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
MOORE, Circuit Judge:
Robert J. Ward (appellant) appeals from an order of the United States District
Court denying, without a hearing, his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
Appellant was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree for causing the
death of his wife with a shotgun and sentenced to imprisonment for 10 to 20
years on March 30, 1955. The question presented here is the voluntariness of
statements made by Ward to the police on the second day of his interrogation.
The same issue was litigated at his trial, and a subsequent appeal from the
judgment of conviction was dismissed for want of prosecution. People v. Ward,
286 App.Div. 1143, 145 N.Y.S.2d 447 (1955).
A post-conviction Huntley hearing was held on the issue of the voluntariness of

appellant's statements to the police. People v. Huntley, 15 N.Y.2d 72, 255
N.Y.S.2d 838, 204 N.E.2d 179 (1965), implementing Jackson v. Denno, 378
U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964). On September 13, 1965
Justice Kronenberg, in the Supreme Court, Niagara County denied appellant
relief and found that the statements in question were voluntarily made. People
v. Ward, 26 A.D.2d 911, 275 N.Y.S.2d 376 (4th Dept. 1966). Leave to appeal
to the New York Court of Appeals was denied by Chief Judge Desmond on
December 9, 1966.
3
Based on the record of the Huntley hearing and the briefs of the parties in the
Appellate Division, the court below found that there was no need for a further
hearing, and accepted the finding of Justice Kronenberg that the statements in
question were made voluntarily.
Ward was indicted for first degree murder but the jury returned a verdict of
manslaughter in the first degree. Manslaughter in the first degree is defined by
former New York Penal Law, McKinneys' Consol.Laws, c. 40, 1050(2) as
homicide committed 'in the heat of passion, but in a cruel and unusual manner,
or by means of a dangerous weapon.' The challenged statements tend to
establish the 'heat of passion' element because in them Ward admitted to having
had an argument with his wife just prior to the shooting. He contends that these
statements were involuntary (1) because his will was overborne by his
interrogators and (2) because he was not able to see his attorney and father
during the first interrogation at the stationhouse in Niagara Falls.
Since judgment as to legal voluntariness is drawn from the 'totality of the

relevant circumstances,' Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568, 606, 81 S.Ct.
1860, 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961), it is necessary to set out the facts in some detail.
There were no witnesses to the killing, which occurred in appellant's home
sometime after 4:00 p.m. on February 1, 1955. When the police arrived,
appellant was there and admitted he had shot and killed his wife. These
statements are conceded to be spontaneous and voluntary. Appellant maintained
that the shooting was accidental.
He was thereafter brought to the Niagara Falls police station and interrogated
for approximately four hours, from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Present at the
interrogation were five police officers, two assistant district attorneys and a
stenographer. But nothing of an inculpatory nature was produced to add to his
spontaneous statements when the police arrived at his home that he had
accidentally shot and killed his wife.
While the interrogation was under way, appellant's father and an attorney,
whom his father had called arrived at the stationhouse and waited in the hall.
Although appellant's father made a request to see him, he was told that they
could not see him at that time since he was being questioned (Tr. 185). At the
conclusion of the interview with the officers and the assistant district attorneys,
Ward conferred with his father and the attorney and was advised by them to
cooperate with the police and take a lie detector test the next day as the police
had suggested. His request to be permitted to go home at night was denied and
he was thereafter detained in jail overnight.
8
At the time appellant's father and the attorney saw appellant, appellant
indicated to them that he was ill with a stomach ailment which he had had for
nearly a day. In fact, appellant, who worked the midnight shift, left his job early
at 2:30 a.m. February 1st because he felt sick to his stomach. On the conclusion
of the interview with the police, appellant was examined by a medical doctor
and given medication to relieve his discomfort. Although food was repeatedly
offered to him during the interviewing, he refused it but did accept coffee.
Appellant also spent a restless night in his cell and did not get very much sleep.
He complained that the turnkey kept rousing him and pestering him during the
course of the night to make sure he was not seriously sick. But he conceded that
he was not asleep at all when the turnkey came around.
10
The next morning, appellant was given some more medication to relieve his
stomach cramps and was taken from the Niagara Falls Police Station to Buffalo
where two lie-detector tests were administered to him. These tests, one hour
each, were separated by a two-hour lunch period. During the course of the tests
his story about the accidental nature of the shooting began to crumble. Whereas
before he maintained that he did not know the gun was loaded, he now
admitted for the first time that he had loaded the weapon himself shortly before
the shooting. He also indicated that he and his wife had an argument before the
fatal incident and what the substance of that argument was. Other statements of
an inculpatory nature, contradicting what he had previously told the police,
were elicited from him and introduced at his trial.
11
Since Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)
and Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977 (1964),
are not retroactive, the failure to warn appellant of his right to counsel and his
right to remain silent at the outset of both interrogations is only one factor in
considering the voluntariness of the statements, Davis v. North Carolina, 384
U.S. 737, 740, 86 S.Ct. 1761, 16 L.Ed.2d 895 (1966), but by no means decisive.
The issue to be determined is whether statements appellant made, considering
the 'totality of the circumstances,' were a product of an overborne will. Justice
Kronenberg, after a concededly full and fair hearing, found that Ward's
statements were voluntary.

12
While it is true that the testimony indicates that appellant's father made a
request to the desk officer to see his son during the interrogation and the
request was denied (Tr. 185), appellant's father and the lawyer, who came to
the stationhouse separately, did not arrive at the police station until the
interrogation was nearly over (Tr. 183-185). Since no inculpatory statements
were elicited from the appellant during that period, he was not hurt by the
slight delay in seeing his father. Furthermore, subsequent to the interview he
had a full opportunity to meet and consult with his father and the lawyer. They
talked with appellant for slightly under an hour and recommended to him that
he cooperate fully with the police and take the lie-detector test the next day in
Buffalo which he had already agreed to take. Thus the fact that appellant's
father and an attorney were not able to see him immediately on their arrival at
the stationhouse cannot be found to have adversely affected the voluntary
nature of appellant's statements made the following day in Buffalo. The
coercive atmosphere present in Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S. 503, 83 S.Ct.
1336, 10 L.Ed.2d 513 (1963), is totally absent here.
13
The physical condition of the appellant during interrogation is a relevant factor

in determining whether statements were voluntarily made. See Davis v. North
Carolina, supra. Although appellant had not eaten a great deal over a 24-hour
period, he was offered food and repeatedly refused the offers except for coffee.
As to his stomach cramps, he was given adequate medical attention and
medication when he needed it to relieve both his nerves and his discomfort.
After an examination and an injection administered by a doctor, he never
thereafter complained that the medication was ineffectual. Under the
circumstances, it seems that the police did all they could reasonably be
expected to do. In regard to the lack of sleep, appellant admitted that he had
slept during the day prior to the shooting (Tr. 616-617) and that he worked the
night shift. He was therefore accustomed to not sleeping from midnight to the
morning hours. Furthermore, he also testified that when the turnkey came
around to see if the was all right, he 'wasn't asleep at all' (Tr. 231). Additionally,
questioning during the lie-detector tests was restricted to only an hour each time
and there was a lengthy two-hour break for lunch period between the tests.
Viewing the 'totality of the circumstances,' it is concluded that statements given
by appellant on the second day of interrogation were voluntarily made and not
the product of an overborne will.
14
Affirmed.

United States of America Ex Rel. Robert J. Ward, Petitioner-Appellat v. Vincent R. Mancusi, Warden of Attica State Prison, Attica, New York, 414 F.2d 87, 2d Cir. (1969)

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414 F.

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. Robert J. WARD,

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Bruce K. Carpenter, Buffalo, N.Y. (The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo,

A post-conviction Huntley hearing was held on the issue of the voluntariness of

Since judgment as to legal voluntariness is drawn from the 'totality of the

statements were voluntary.

The physical condition of the appellant during interrogation is a relevant factor

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