NIAGARA FALLS
Witness ID of accused killer probed
LOCKPORT — The defense scored a few points Wednesday in pretrial maneuvering in the Darnell D. Carter murder case. Carter, 22, of 12th Street, Niagara Falls, is charged with fatally shooting Robert R. Biggs, 39, of Maple Avenue, Niagara Falls, on March 20 during a robbery attempt on Pierce Avenue.
Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza said during arguments Wednesday that there is a chance a female eyewitness’ identification of Carter as the shooter, based on a police photo array, might be suppressed.
“This is a very close call,” the judge said in granting Assistant Public Defender Christopher A. Privateer’s request for internal police material on the preparation of the six-photo sheet that witness used to identify Carter. Another eyewitness failed to choose his photo from a similar array.
Sperrazza said she will consider allowing the prosecution to reopen its case in the evidence suppression hearing to allow the woman to testify, perhaps at the next court date next Thursday, about the photo selection process.
The judge also said she will reconsider her previous ruling that a search warrant for the home of Carter’s mother was proper. Niagara Falls City Judge Diane L. Vitello approved the warrant based on statements she had seen.
“I don’t know on the basis of what statements,” Privateer complained. “We don’t even know what they said.”
Sperrazza said her previous ruling was “thin, and I would have liked to have much more in a homicide case, but it was OK.”
Privateer has been battling Assistant District Attorney Brian D. Seaman about evidence sharing. A statement that Privateer obtained last month was almost entirely blacked out, for example.
Privateer also said he intends to call Niagara Falls Detective Capt. Ernest C. Palmer to the stand to ask him about what he or Carter might have said when Palmer and Detective James Galie were alone with Carter in an interview room.
Previously, Detective Frank Coney and Lt. William Thomson testified that when they entered the room to question Carter, Palmer and Galie were there but weren’t talking at that time.
Sperrazza ruled that spontaneous statements by Carter to a police officer would be admissible. Carter told Officer Thomas Rogers as he prepared to make a phone call, “I’m done.” The next day, being taken through the police garage, Carter saw Biggs’ auto and said, “That’s his car.”
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