Choi v. Warren

JIN SIG CHOI, Petitioner, v. CHARLES WARREN, et al., Respondents.

Civ. No. 12-3473 (KM)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

June 30, 2015

OPINION

KEVIN MCNULTY, U.S.D.J.

I. INTRODUCTION

The petitioner, Jin Sig Choi, is a state prisoner at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, New Jersey. He is proceeding pro se with a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Mr. Choi was convicted by a jury in 2005 of murder and felony murder, and is currently serving a sentence of life imprisonment with thirty years of parole ineligibility. He raises multiple claims, including erroneous failure to suppress statements and evidence, inadequate voir dire of jurors, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective assistance of counsel. For the following reasons, the habeas petition will be denied.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND¹

On January 4, 1995, sometime after 11:30 p.m., Usung [Suh] was stabbed eight times with a knife in the attached garage of her home on Mill Run in Paramus, New Jersey. Usung died within ten minutes of the attack.

Usung's husband Michael Suh (Michael) testified that in January 1995, he was living with Usung, his mother-in-law, and his two young children, in Paramus. At the time, Michael owned farmers'markets in East Rutherford, Union City, and Hackensack. The markets would generate about $30,000 in cash every day. In the evenings, Michael would bring the cash home and give it to Usung, who managed the money for the businesses. Michael would go in the mornings to the Hunts Point Market in the Bronx, New York, to purchase merchandise with about $30,000 in cash. Michael said that on the night of the robbery and murder, there was about $100,000 in cash in his home.

Michael testified that on the evening of January 4, 1995, after his markets closed, he went to the Union City apartment of a woman with whom he was having a relationship. He left the apartment about 11:00 p.m. and drove home. Michael had in his possession about $20,000 in cash, which he put in a gym bag that he used to carry money. At about 11:30 p.m., Michael arrived home and opened one of the two doors to the garage, using the automatic garage door opener.

Usung's car was parked in the bay on one side of the garage. Michael drove into the garage and activated the device to close the garage door. Usung opened the door from the garage into the kitchen. She waved, turned around, and started to go back into the house. At this point, Michael observed a man with a ski mask in the front of Usung's car. Michael honked the horn to alert Usung to the presence of the intruder.

Michael looked in his rear view mirror and saw another person, who had entered the garage before the garage door had fully closed, and apparently tripped the device causing the door to open again. According to Michael, this individual also was wearing a ski mask. He came up next to Michael's car and tried to open the car door. The door was locked. The intruder pointed a gun at Michael, who leaned away in an effort to protect himself. Michael said that he heard two clicks. The gun did not fire. Michael put his car into reverse and started to back out of the garage.

As he was backing out, Michael saw Usung. She was screaming and trying to get from the garage back into the kitchen. Michael drove away, and made a 9-1-1 call on his cell phone to report the incident to the police. A neighbor who heard noise at the Suh home, and saw someone being attacked by one of the intruders, also alerted the police.

On the road, Michael waved down a police officer who was heading to the Suh home. Michael and the officer drove to his house. Other police officers were already on the scene. When thepolice entered the garage, they found Usung's lifeless body, lying on a bicycle. The officers also found two live nine millimeter bullets on the garage floor.

The following morning, a police officer found the knife used in the stabbing on an embankment in Paramus, near Paramus Road, between Midland Avenue and Mill Run. Several weeks later, an individual who was walking her dog found a nine millimeter Smith and Wesson handgun, with a fully loaded magazine on a bicycle path in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The pedestrian turned the weapon over to the Ridgewood police, who removed the magazine and a bullet from the chamber of the gun. The police found another loaded magazine near the spot where the pedestrian found the weapon. Ballistic tests revealed that the bullets found in the garage of the Suh residence had been ejected from the weapon recovered in Ridgewood.

In the weeks that followed, the investigators made inquiries regarding the gun. Their investigation led them to an individual named Pil Jung Kim (Kim) at Hunts Point Market. Kim took the detectives to meet Chung Hoon Park (Park). Park testified that he was defendant's friend, and he had worked with him for about eight months. Park said that in November 1994, he met defendant and Jae Shik Jang (Jang) at a restaurant. Defendant told Park that Jang needed a gun because he had been robbed in the past.

A few weeks later, Park obtained a gun from Kim and sold the gun, two gun clips, and a boxed case of bullets to defendant and Jang for $500. At trial, Park identified the weapon that was sold to defendant and Jang. It was the gun found on the bicycle path in Ridgewood. Park testified that the day after he spoke with the police about the gun, defendant called him twice. Park told defendant that the police were looking for the individual who purchased the weapon. Park told defendant to contact the police. Defendant did not do so.

The investigation focused on defendant and Jang. The investigators learned that Sang Sun Lee (Lee) was Jang's roommate. The investigators spoke with defendant's relatives and learned that defendant's wife owned a white and gray Chevy Blazer. In the following months, the investigators tried to locate defendant, Jang, and Lee. After a story about the case was featured on the "America's Most Wanted television program, the police received a tip that the suspects were in Tacoma, Washington.

The investigators traveled to Washington. At or about this time, Jang turned himself in to the authorities in Missoula, Montana. Jang was brought back to New Jersey. He was charged and later convicted of murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, armed burglary, felony murder, and unlawful possession of a weapon. Jang was sentenced to life in prison, with a forty-year period of parole ineligibility. [FN 1]

[FN 1] Jang's conviction and sentences were affirmed on appeal. State v. Jang, 359 N.J. Super. 85 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 177 N.J. 492 (2003).

In 2003, the investigators learned that defendant was in South Korea. The Office of International Affairs in the United States Department of Justice was contacted and a request was made for defendant's extradition. On January 4, 2004, defendant was arrested in South Korea and in April, 2004, he was returned to the United States in the company of federal law enforcement officers, who transferred custody of defendant at Newark International Airport to Detectives Mark Bendul (Bendul) and Richard Cary. Defendant was transported to the Bergen County Prosecutor's office in Paramus.

There, Bendul informed defendant of his Miranda [FN 2] rights, which were set forth on a typed form in the Korean language. Bendul speaks Korean. In that language, Bendul advised defendant of his rights and asked defendant to acknowledge that he understood his rights. Bendul testified that he had defendant read each of the rights out loud. Defendant also read the waiver section of the form and signed it.

[FN 2] Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966).

Defendant gave a statement to Bendul. He stated that he and Jang fled to Tacoma in February 1995 to find Lee. From Tacoma, defendant had traveled to South Korea. Defendant said that he met Michael Suh at Hunts Point Market. He knew that Michael ran a successful produce business, and in the past Michael had hired him to deliver produce to his markets. Defendant also met Jang at Hunts Point Market. Defendant stated that he did not know Lee very well.

Bendul questioned defendant about Usung's murder. Defendant initially denied any involvement, but later asserted that he met Jang and Lee on the evening of January 4, 1995, and Jang told himhe had business to take care of in New Jersey. Jang asked for a ride and defendant drove him in his Chevy Blazer. While crossing the George Washington Bridge, Jang said that they had a job to do, meaning a robbery or burglary. Defendant said that, at Jang's request, he had previously arranged for Park to sell Jang a gun. Defendant stated that he did not know who had obtained the knife. He also did not know where the ski masks had been obtained but Jang and Lee had them.

Defendant, Jang, and Lee arrived at the Suh residence at around 11:00 p.m. Defendant stopped briefly in front of the house and Jang and Lee got out of the car. Defendant said that he turned the vehicle around and parked about fifteen or twenty meters away, with the engine running and the lights out. Jang and Lee went toward the house. Defendant was asked whether anyone had smoked that night. Defendant said that he did not know. [FN 3] According to defendant, Michael arrived at the house around 11:30 p.m. Defendant said that he heard a loud noise. He saw someone leave a car. Defendant said that he left when he heard the loud noise.

[FN 3] DNA on a cigarette butt found at the crime scene matched the DNA sample provided by defendant.

The jury found defendant guilty on all charges. At sentencing, Judge Conte merged counts two and three with count one, and sentenced defendant to life imprisonment, with a thirty-year period of parole ineligibility. Monetary penalties also were imposed.

(Dkt. No. 10-3 at p. 2-9.) The specific charges of which Mr. Choi was found guilty were one count of murder, N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:11-3a(1) and/or (2), and two counts of...