People v Colon (Edward)

[*1] People v Colon (Edward) 2007 NY Slip Op 51907(U) [17 Misc 3d 128(A)] Decided on October 3, 2007 Appellate Term, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on October 3, 2007
APPELLATE TERM OF THE SUPREME COURT, FIRST DEPARTMENT
PRESENT: McCOOE, J.P., SCHOENFELD, HEITLER, JJ
570507/05.

People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

Edward Colon, Defendant-Appellant.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Ira Margulis, J.), rendered May 27, 2005, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of criminal possession of marihuana in the fifth degree, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment of conviction (Ira Margulis, J.), rendered May 27, 2005, affirmed.

The accusatory instrument sufficiently sets forth the factual basis for the misdemeanor marihuana possession charge to which defendant ultimately pleaded guilty, by alleging, inter alia, that defendant was observed at a specified street location on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx with a "ziplock bag" of marihuana "in his right hand." These allegations, "given a fair and not overly restrictive or technical reading" (People v Casey, 95 NY2d 354, 360 [2000]), were sufficient for pleading purposes to establish reasonable cause to believe that defendant knowingly possessed marihuana "in a public place" and that the marihuana was "open to public view" (Penal Law § 221.10[1]; see People v Murray, 11 Misc 3d 134[A], 2006 NY Slip Op 50467[U], lv denied 7 NY3d 760 [2006]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: October 3, 2007