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The state court's determination that the cross-examination of Segalas was not constitutionally deficient was not an unreasonable application of Strickland. Sherman's testimony would not have undermined confidence in the jury's guilty verdict. See People v. Bierenbaum, 790 N.E.2d 281 (N.Y.2003). The story of Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a plastic surgeon who practiced in Grand Forks and Minot and later was convicted for the murder of his wife in their Manhattan apartment, will air in a two-hour . The fact that this defendant allegedly committed a prior bad act is no proof whatsoever that he possessed a propensity or disposition to commit the crime charged in this indictment or any other crime. Bierenbaum does not suggest that counsel should not have stressed the lack of evidence, or should not have mentioned that searches of the apartment, cars and airplane turned up nothing. When a state court has adjudicated the merits of a petitioner's claim, a federal court may grant an application for a writ of habeas corpus only if the adjudication of the claim-(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding. 28 U.S.C. For this strategy, the defense had no particular need to elicit evidence that Katz was a regular as opposed to occasional user. Under New York law, [a] person is guilty of murder in the second degree when [w]ith intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person N.Y. If the jury harbored a reasonable doubt concerning Bierenbaum's guilt, an instruction on jurisdiction would not have assisted the defense. '' The next day, the news hit that he was in New York and under arrest for murder. She provided a picture of Katz from the summer of 1985, and described her as less than five foot three, weighing approximately 110 pounds, with an A-cup bra size. He faces 25 years to life and is to be sentenced on Nov. 20. Grand Forks, ND 58201 . This was the same year that a partial female body washed ashore in Staten Island, New York. This Court granted a certificate of appealability on September 23, 2008. His anger at his wife. New's 2023 Best Medical School Rankings, UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine ranks higher in its primary care and research compared to other medical schools in L.A. Boys don't touch boys here.' In September 1986 Hope Martin, an investigator from the District Attorney's office, was assigned to investigate Katz's disappearance. The Appellate Division ruled that the statements bore numerous hallmarks of reliability: She was speaking spontaneously; she repeated the statements separately to various people in her life; her statements about the troubled side of their marriage were a natural consequence of corroborated facts about their marriage; she was, by all indications, in good mental health; there appears no reason for her to have fabricated the matters she discussed at the time of her utterances; and her statements largely concerned private matters that some would be embarrassed or otherwise reluctant to disclose. Medical School / Professional School: He described her to the jury as deeply tanned, about five foot one, with a well-developed body. Dr. Roberta Karnofsky, an anesthesiologist, had a year-long relationship with Bierenbaum beginning in fall 1985, while she was a medical student under his supervision. Bierenbaum said that she had gone out earlier in the day and had not returned to their apartment. In the late 1800's, the railroad lured transients to the town's many brothels and saloons. He completed his Residency in Emergency Medicine from Genesys Regional Medical Center. Investigators with the Manhattan district attorney's office arrested him in Minot, and gave him 48 hours to return to New York and surrender. Under New York law, the prosecution must establish good cause for extended delay, but a determination made in good faith to delay prosecution for sufficient reasons will not deprive defendant of due process even though there may be some prejudice to defendant. People v. Decker, 912 N.E.2d 1041, 1042 (N.Y.2009); see N.Y. Const. Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a former plastic surgeon from New York convicted of murdering his wife in 2000, confessed to killing her and then throwing her body out of an airplane and into the. Again, we disagree. The Strickland standard is rigorous, Bell v. Miller, 500 F.3d 149, 155 (2d Cir.2007): Judicial scrutiny of counsel's performance must be highly deferential [;] every effort [must] be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel's challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel's perspective at the time [A] court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy. Ive waited a very,very long time for this day. art. During trial the evidence was uncontroverted that Bierenbaum repeatedly stated to friends, to relatives and to the police that he last saw his wife in their apartment in Manhattan. He didn't stop when he knew she was unconscious. Given that the Appellate Division reviewed the claim that the evidence was legally insufficient to prove that Bierenbaum intended to cause Katz's death, he cannot claim that counsel was ineffective in failing to preserve the issue for appeal. And when detectives grilled him about what he did on July 7, 1985, the day his wife disappeared, he never mentioned his two-hour solo flight in a Cessna over the Atlantic Ocean. Dr. Ellen Schwartz, a close friend from graduate school, testified that Katz told her she was afraid of her husband, and that she was planning to leave him soon. Manhattan investigators were exhuming a woman's torso from a Queens cemetery and running DNA tests to determine whether it was that of his first wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, who had disappeared in 1985. He chokes her to death. He knew in July of 1985, what it would take to render her unconscious. holds a Master's degree in Epidemiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Doctorate of Osteopathy from the University of New England. TermsPrivacyDisclaimerCookiesDo Not Sell My Information, Begin typing to search, use arrow keys to navigate, use enter to select, Stay up-to-date with FindLaw's newsletter for legal professionals. In the 15 years since his wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, disappeared, Dr. Bierenbaum remarried, had a baby girl and built a thriving medical practice in Minot, N.D. Dale Maixner, special agent with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations, has another theory: that he was systematically building an image as a person incapable of murder. On October 17, 1986 she learned that Bierenbaum had rented an airplane from Mac Dan Aircraft Rental at Caldwell Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey on July 7, 1985, the day Katz disappeared. View info, ratings, reviews, specialties, education history, and more. Dr. Kenneth Feiner developed a romantic relationship with Katz in the months prior to her disappearance. McCullough testified that Katz told her that her husband had gotten angry at her and choked her because she had been smoking a cigarette. 28 U.S.C. The state court concluded therefore that defense counsel was not ineffective for failing to move to dismiss for pre-indictment delay. ''He'd come up to you if he saw a mole, and he would touch it,'' Mr. Hussey said. In summation the prosecution improperly argued that Bierenbaum and his attorney prevented the police from conducting a complete search. Dalsass contacted several individuals whose names he had obtained from Bierenbaum or Katz's family who might have information about Katz. Bierenbaum also takes exception to his trial counsel's failure to object to the prosecution's contention that he prevented a complete forensic examination of the apartment. Bierenbaum told Dalsass that he had awakened at approximately 9:30 Sunday morning, that Katz had received a telephone call from an acquaintance that disappointed her, and that she left at about 11 a.m. after an argument, telling him that she intended to go to Central Park to get some sun. Robert BIERENBAUM, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Harold D. GRAHAM, The Superintendent of Auburn Correctional Facility, Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General State of New York, Respondents-Appellees. How close up you are with a person that you are choking Strangulation is up close and personal. DeCesare said that Bierenbaum often mentioned water, that Katz was outside cooling off.. Penal Law 125.25[1]. 2254(b)(1)(A). III, 2820, Oct. 12, 2000. Anthony Segalas testified at trial that he and Katz used cocaine together twice. In fact, Bibb said, Bierenbaum knew very well that his wife wasdead. Bierenbaum's wife, Gail Katz Bierenbaum, was last seen on July 7, 1985. She also told DeCesare that she thought she was being followed. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. He only stopped when she was dead We think about the intimacy of strangulation. He recalled that when David Berkowitz (later known as Son of Sam) spent time at the Minot military base, animals in the area turned up mutilated. Robert moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1989 and set up a medical practice in the city. We addressed this point in connection with counsel's mistake in referring to a forensic examination in his opening statement, and found no prejudice. 2254. Caruana testified that Bierenbaum told her in August or September that his apartment had been searched and that the police had cleared him. The prosecution successfully argued that counsel had opened the door to allow testimony from Detective Dalsass that Bierenbaum's attorney had prevented the police from conducting a warrantless forensic search of the apartment. I, 1881, Oct. 2, 2000. Never, Bibb told the jurors shortly before they begandeliberations, did Bierenbaum, who has a pilots license, evermention that he had spent nearly two hours flying an airplane theafternoon after his wife was last seen. See People v. McLaughlin, 606 N.E.2d 1357, 1359 (N.Y.1992) ([F]or the State to have criminal jurisdiction, either the alleged conduct or some consequence of it must have occurred within the State.). On the evening of Sunday, July 7, 1985, Bierenbaum attended a family gathering for a nephew's birthday in New Jersey, without Katz. Looking back, people see sinister clues in the fact that his socks were mismatched, his airplane a mess. Now, you know what his intent was.Trial Tr. He said that he had called Katz's mother and two of her friends to see if she was there. Sherman heard the noise of the high-heeled shoes, then she heard the door slam, and both the shouting and the sound of high heels on the floor stopped. Trial Tr. Courts have also considered the status or relationship to the declarant of the person to whom the statement was made, whether there was a coercive atmosphere, whether it was made in response to questioning and whether the statements reflect an attempt to shift blame or curry favor. ''How odd is it that a murderer had dinner at my house, a Seder no less,'' said Harriet Epstein, originally from Queens, who briefly ran the only bagel store here and whose late husband, a wealthy and prominent doctor, befriended and worked with Dr. Bierenbaum. Although Gail's family believed he was responsible for the disappearance, the police could not build a case for a long time as they lacked the body and concrete . Its open wheat fields, quiet ways and uncritical embrace of strangers drew two such outsiders here in 1996, a doctor couple from New York and California who had both practiced medicine in Las Vegas. WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Although on this record the Appellate Division could have found a claim of lack of intent to kill unpreserved, it addressed the legal sufficiency of both elements of second degree murder: The People proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant had the opportunity, the motive, and the intent to kill his victim, and that it was he who did so. Bierenbaum, 748 N.Y. S.2d at 579. [T]he question of whether a federal constitutional question was sufficiently asserted in state courts to form the basis of a federal habeas petition is a question of federal law which the federal courts must resolve for themselves. Acosta v. Artuz, 575 F.3d 177, 185 (2d Cir.2009) (quoting DiSimone v. Phillips, 461 F.3d 181, 189 (2d Cir.2006)).