People v Smith

People v Smith 2012 NY Slip Op 04101 Decided on May 29, 2012 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on May 29, 2012
Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Renwick, Freedman, Abdus-Salaam, JJ.
7776 5931N/08

[*1]The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

William Smith, Defendant-Appellant.




Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Bonnie C.
Brennan of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Karinna M.
Arroyo of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ruth Pickholz, J.), rendered July 9, 2009, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender, to a term of 1½ years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. The court credited the testimony of two police officers that defendant, upon becoming startled by their presence, spontaneously and voluntarily dropped a plastic bag containing crack cocaine, and there is no basis to disturb the court's credibility determinations (see generally People v Prochilo, 41 NY2d 759, 761 [1977]). There is nothing in the record to support the conclusion that the officers' testimony was tailored to meet constitutional objection (see People v Harris, 186 AD2d 390 [1992], lv denied 80 NY2d 1027 [1992]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: MAY 29, 2012

CLERK