Phone: (585) 754-7858,(585) 545-7200. On direct appeal, Bierenbaum contended that the trial court erroneously admitted videotapes, demonstrating how a pilot can, without assistance, place a flight bag loaded with one hundred ten pounds of weight into a Cessna 172, fly the plane over the ocean and push it out. Please try again. Though the five-block downtown area boasts a jail, a courthouse and two competing hospitals, Minot (pronounced MY-not) has a desperate need for people and talent. Throughout Bierenbaum's trial and the direct appeal of his conviction, the admission of statements by a declarant not present at trial was governed by Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56 (1980), abrogated by Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004)). 2 reviews. Dalsass asked Bierenbaum to narrate specifically and exactly how he spent the weekend that Katz disappeared. On appeal to the Appellate Division, First Department, Bierenbaum argued that his guilt was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The application fee at University of California--Los Angeles (Geffen) is $95. University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. that denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. At that time the police had not searched his apartment or car. Bierenbaum now argues that his counsel was ineffective for failing to properly object to the admission of the videotapes. For more information, In the late 1800's, the railroad lured transients to the town's many brothels and saloons. The educational structure is rigorous, but the real draw of this school is the open and accepting atmosphere. But Dr. Bierenbaum had a strong record, excellent training and appeared to have an unblemished past, Mr. Schwann recalled, until New York City investigators, accompanied by Mr. Maixner, arrived in November 1998 to look into some issues. The district court determined that Bierenbaum failed to exhaust his state court remedies with regard to his Confrontation Clause claim, finding that he did not argue the claim in his application for leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals. Bierenbaum said no. 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. Defense counsel did not call two individuals whom Bierenbaum contends witnessed Katz leaving the apartment and the building in accordance with his narrative of events on July 7, 1985. Although the delay was substantial, Bierenbaum suffered no prejudice, and he was not incarcerated prior to trial. 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. as the organization's new Chief Medical Officer.. To his friend he related that he and Katz had an argument that morning and that she had left the apartment to sunbathe in Central Park wearing shorts, sandals and a halter top. 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.). The police report also stated that Katz phoned Segalas in June 1985 and asked him to examine some cocaine she had bought, because she thought she had received a short amount. Dr. Leigh McCullough, Katz's employer in the fall of 1983, noticed bruises on Katz's neck one day. The rule applies with equal force whether the state-law ground is substantive or procedural. Lee v. Kemna, 534 U.S. 362, 375 (2002). IV, 3009-10, Oct. 18, 2000. All rights reserved. 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. Segalas said she is the one who made the connection. When O'Malley asked him why he waited until the evening of the following day to report Katz missing, Bierenbaum stated that he felt she would return, and when she didn't friends advised him to notify the police. Nontestimonial statements therefore do not implicate the Confrontation Clause. Bierenbaum, currently a resident of Grand Forks, N.D., faces amaximum term of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentencedNov. 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. Even Dr. Chollet's brother, also a physician, had earlier been recruited to work there. That involved advice of counsel. ''At first it was just, 'That guy is nothing but strange,' '' said Curt Hussey, operator of the town's private flight school at Pietsch's airfield. With your consent, your healthcare Your recollection controls. 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. Bierenbaum's wife, Gail Katz Bierenbaum, was last seen on July 7, 1985. In summation, counsel attacked the prosecution's use of the videotapes that showed how a body could have been loaded into an airplane and dropped into the sea, asserting that the videotapes did not supply proof of what happened to Katz. Sherman's testimony would not have undermined confidence in the jury's guilty verdict. He was awaiting trial at his parents' home in East Orange, N.J., while his wife and daughter were in Pittsburgh. Bierenbaum faults the district court for concluding that counsel's efforts to secure her testimony were diligent, and concluding that failure to present her testimony did not prejudice the defense. 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. Robert "Rob" Biernbaum, D.O. Given the seriousness of the charge, the circumstantial nature of the evidence, and no evidence of any improper motive on the part of the prosecution, the motion had no chance of success. 2120, 2008 WL 515035 (S.D .N.Y. ''Helpful'' is the word most people use here to describe Dr. Bierenbaum, a man who fixed his colleagues' computers and brought his neighbors chicken soup. He only stopped when she was dead We think about the intimacy of strangulation. 2. In another conversation Katz told DeCesare that she and Bierenbaum had discussed the Claus von Bulow case, and that Bierenbaum had said the problem with the case was that von Bulow left evidence and that he would leave no evidence. Katz asked Beale if she could move in with her. As physician and friend Marvin proved himself a real . A state law ground is only adequate to support the judgment and foreclose review of a federal claim if it is firmly established and regularly followed in the state, and application of the rule would not be exorbitant. Garvey v. Duncan, 485 F.3d 709, 713-14 (2d Cir.2007) (quoting Lee, 534 U.S. at 376). Rochester RHIO. Local doctors here studied the demographics, and did not think a plastic surgeon would arrive until at least 2005. Who would come willingly to a place where many professionals -- particularly doctors who draw patients from the surrounding 100,000 square miles -- must fly single-engine planes to work? Darrel Williams, a prominent eye surgeon and one of Dr. Bierenbaum's closest friends here, recalled of that morning, ''He looked a little haggard and seemed to be rushing around.'' ''I feel grief, like someone has died,'' he said. The United States Supreme Court decisions in Crawford and Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813 (2006), confined the scope of the Confrontation Clause to testimonial statements. Anthony Segalas testified at trial that he and Katz used cocaine together twice. 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. [Bierenbaum] tells Karen Caruana, You know the cops searched my apartment. These included Ellen Schwartz, Francesca Beale, Katz's therapist Dr. Sybil Baran, Anthony Segalas and Kenneth Feiner. They resided in a twelfth-floor apartment on East 85th Street in Manhattan. Baran testified that she never told Bierenbaumthat. To the owner of Bierenbaum's vacation rental property in South Hampton, he speculated that Katz had a drug problem and that she had disappeared with drug dealers. Bierenbaum then filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis in the Appellate Division contending that appellate counsel had provided ineffective assistance. 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. Contribute to our National Missing Person Day Fundraiser Home Caruana testified that Bierenbaum told her in August or September that his apartment had been searched and that the police had cleared him. 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. Medical School / Professional School: 9. See Feliz, 467 F.3d at 232. To show ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), Bierenbaum must (1) demonstrate that his counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and (2) affirmatively prove prejudice arising from counsel's allegedly deficient representation. Brown v. Greene, 577 F.3d 107, 110 (2d Cir.2009) (quoting Carrion v. Smith, 549 F.3d 583, 588 (2d Cir.2008)). As Dr. Bierenbaum's social efforts overcame the reserve of his new neighbors, his old neighbors were busy digging up his past. '' But when they learned he was a plastic surgeon and was checking for cancer, they softened. 2005 - 2023 WebMD LLC. Albany Medical College ; N E W Y O R K, Oct. 24, 2000 -- Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a plastic surgeon who wascharged with killing his wife 15 years ago and dropping her bodyinto the ocean from an airplane, was convicted today ofsecond-degree murder. A New Life Re-examined; After Murder Verdict, Town Questions Doctor, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/30/nyregion/a-new-life-re-examined-after-murder-verdict-town-questions-doctor.html. Katz told her that she was looking for an apartment and that she was going to tell her husband that weekend that she was leaving. The Appellate Division concluded that the trial court's cautionary instructions about the prior assault evidence were legally satisfactory and adequately protected Bierenbaum's right to a fair trial. The faculty-student ratio at . Now we will tell you that the evidence will also show that she is dead. Petitioner-Appellant Robert Bierenbaum was convicted after a jury trial of murder in the second degree, see N.Y. In short, Minot has always been a good place to reinvent oneself or to hide. A state court's determination of a factual issue is presumed to be correct, and may only be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence. The decision not to call Alvarez was within the range of acceptable strategic and tactical alternatives. Luciano, 158 F.3d at 660. Was she killed by drug dealers? We disagree. Former NY surgeon admits killing wife, throwing body from airplane in 1985 (NCD) (NCD) NEW YORK Dr. Robert Bierenbaum maintained his innocence in 2000 as he was tried and convicted of killing . The motion was denied. And as always, patient privacy and confidentiality remain of the utmost importance. Bierenbaum's counsel explained that he was concerned that a contemporaneous objection would have prompted the trial court to sum up in favor of the prosecution, in other words, to highlight for the jury the argument that counsel found objectionable. Claim your profile (701) 780-5260 . it is a first professional graduate degree awarded upon graduation from medical school. See United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783, 789 (1977). He has 45 years of experience. The Appellate Division held that Bierenbaum had not effectively protested the admission of the videotapes under New York's preservation rule, which require[s], at the very least, that any matter which a party wishes the appellate court to decide have been brought to the attention of the trial court at a time and in a way that gave the latter the opportunity to remedy the problem and thereby avert reversible error. Richardson v. Greene, 497 F .3d 212, 218 (2d Cir.2007) (quoting Garcia v. Lewis, 188 F.3d 71, 78 (2d Cir.1999)); see N.Y.Crim. vol. Katz was a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology at Long Island University. When two weeks later he saw posters of Katz, he identified her as the woman he had seen, and he called the police. One of the main reasons is because the defendant wouldn't let them search the apartment. Some say that doctors come here fleeing lawsuits, bouts with drugs and alcohol and strange gaps in their resumes. ''Most people don't know that Minot, North Dakota, is on the face of the map, so why come here?'' Look for the RHIO icon for authorized RHIO participants. I want to remind you that every individual has a right to an attorney and you can draw no negative inference from the fact that someone hires an attorney. Failure to cross-examine witness Anthony Segalas concerning Katz's use of cocaine. In his opening statement counsel told the jury You will also learn that the police conducted a forensic examination of the doctor's apartment, the doctor's car, his friend's car that he borrowed some time that weekend, the airplane and found no evidence of blood or any other biological determinations because this case also turns on the lack of evidence. Id. He completed his Residency in Emergency Medicine from Genesys Regional Medical Center. On the evening of Sunday, July 7, 1985, Bierenbaum attended a family gathering for a nephew's birthday in New Jersey, without Katz. WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Counsel's theory was that Katz left the apartment on Sunday, and met with foul play after she left. These are not the acts of a suicidalperson, she said. Doctor of Osteopathic (DO) ''He'd come up to you if he saw a mole, and he would touch it,'' Mr. Hussey said. Bierenbaum claims that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel at trial, and that the admission at trial of numerous out-of-court statements made by the victim violated the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. Katz did not keep her regularly scheduled psychotherapy appointment on July 8. The defense called one witness, Joel Davis. When the prosecution gave notice during trial that it had provided copies of the videotapes to the defense, counsel stated I suspect we'll object. The trial judge responded And I suspect I'll allow it. Trial Tr. provider will be able to view your information so they can provide the most informed care and treatment. Law 470.05[2]. DeCesare testified that Katz told her that Bierenbaum had threatened to kill her if she left him. A strong piece of the defense was the fact that there was no physical evidence to link Bierenbaum to the crime. They would have to have ignored the fact that when asked about that Sunday fifteen years ago, Alvarez, like Rivera, did not recall seeing Katz leave the building. 2254(b)(1)(A). I heard the cuffs close round hishands. He chokes her to death. He knew in July of 1985, what it would take to render her unconscious. That is not disputed. She wanted to know whether Bierenbaum had flown an airplane on the day of his wife's disappearance. Even a neophyte could have found danger. Pressing the point on cross-examination risked alienating the jury for no particular strategic gain. After an eight-day trial by jury in October 2000 before the Honorable Leslie Crocker Snyder in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, the jury returned a verdict of guilty to the charge.
