Whitley v. Ercole

DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judge:

On November 2, 1981, a young doctor and soon-to-be-father was shot and killed in a petty street robbery gone awry outside of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The ensuing investigation led New York City police to petitioner-appellee Darryl Whitley, who was arrested and tried on one count of felony murder in the second degree. Whitley’s first trial resulted in a hung jury. At his second trial, the State presented, inter alia, three witnesses who took the stand and testified that Whitley had admitted his…