Nolan v. State of New York

Papers Considered Notice of Motion, Affirmation & Exhibits Annexed         1-4 Affirmation in Opposition, Memorandum & Exhibits Annexed     5-11 Affirmation in Further Support of Motion to Dismiss     12 DECISION AND ORDER Upon the foregoing papers and for the following reasons, the Motion by Defendant State of New York (hereinafter “State”), seeking the dismissal of the Claim, is granted and the Claim is hereby dismissed as provided hereinbelow. The following facts are essentially undisputed. On April 10, 2015, Claimant Ralph Nolan (hereinafter “claimant”) was convicted by a jury in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, of serious crimes under the federal statute known as the Hobbs Act,¹ to wit: conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery in violation of 18 USC §1951, attempted Hobbs Act robbery in violation of 18 USC §1951, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence (18 USC §924[c][1][A][ii]) (see Claim, Exh. 2, 5). In essence, the federal jury found claimant guilty of joining in an armed robbery of an apartment occupied by a family, some of whose members were dealing in drugs. That same day, the claimant was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals for sentencing. Well over a year later, on September 28, 2016, claimant was sentenced to imprisonment for ten years, and was committed to the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons to serve his term of imprisonment (see Claim, Exh. 5, 12). During that time, the claimant appealed his conviction, and separately moved in the District Court to vacate his sentence pursuant to 28 USC §2255, on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel, and on February 20, 2018, the District Court (Daniels, J.) denied the motion without a hearing (see Claim, Exh. 2). Upon claimant’s consolidated appeals of his criminal conviction and the motion denial, by Decision and Order dated April 15, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the District Court’s denial of claimant’s §2255 motion, vacated his conviction of all three counts, and remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings, holding that claimant “did not receive the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the [US Constitution's] Sixth Amendment” (United States v. Nolan, 956 F 3d 71, 81 [2d Cir 2020]). Upon the subsequent filing of a Nolle Prosequi motion by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, on March 23, 2021, the District Court (Daniels, J.), granted the motion, reasoning that based on a review of the evidence in the case and in light of the decision of the Court of Appeals, the Federal “Government has concluded that further prosecution of [claimant] would not be in the interests of justice” (United States v. Nolan, 14- CR-00555 [SDNY, Mar. 23, 2021]; see Claim, Exh. 16). Judge Daniels so ordered the Nolle Prosequi, dismissing the indictment against claimant (id.). By Claim filed March 22, 2023, the claimant then commenced the instant action against the State seeking damages for unjust conviction and imprisonment, pursuant to Court of Claims Act §8-b, the Unjust Conviction and Imprisonment Act of 1984, alleging that he was wrongfully imprisoned for a period of six years for a crime that he did not commit. The Claim affirms that on April 10, 2015, the federal jury, relying on fraudulently obtained eyewitness identifications, convicted claimant under the Hobbs Act. Specifically, the Claim alleges that claimant’s conviction was procured by duress, misrepresentation, and fraud by the New York City Police Department (hereinafter “NYPD”), and upon material evidence submitted at trial which was known to be false by the NYPD and others, including the highly suspect identifications of four witnesses who initially failed to identify him, until the NYPD showed them a Facebook photo of claimant holding a BB gun which looked similar to the actual gun used in the robbery (see Claim at 2,