People v Graves (David)

[*1] People v Graves (David) 2013 NY Slip Op 52126(U) Decided on December 13, 2013 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 This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.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 December 13, 2013
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, FIRST DEPARTMENT
PRESENT: Lowe, III, P.J., Hunter, Jr., Torres, JJ
570248/12.

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

David Graves, Defendant-Appellant,

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Diana M. Boyar, J.), rendered February 10, 2012, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment of conviction (Diana M. Boyar, J.), rendered February 10, 2012, affirmed.

The accusatory instrument was not jurisdictionally defective. The information alleged, inter alia, that, at a specified time and location, the arresting police officer observed defendant smoking crack cocaine from a pipe; that defendant dropped and "stomped" on the pipe during the arrest process, causing the pipe to shatter; that the officer recovered the "shattered pipe containing crack/cocaine residue from the ground"; and that the officer believed the substance was crack cocaine based upon "his professional training as a police officer in the identification of drugs [and] his prior experience as a police officer in drug arrests." Giving the information "a fair and not overly restrictive or technical reading" (People v Casey, 95 NY2d 354, 360 [2000]), we find "as a matter of common sense and reasonable pleading" (People v Davis, 13 NY3d 17, 31 [2009]) that it established reasonable cause to believe and a prima facie case that defendant was guilty of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree (see Penal Law § 220.03; People v Kalin, 12 NY3d 225, 231-232 [2009]; People v Pearson, 78 AD3d 445 [2010], lv denied 16 NY3d 799 [2011]; People v Churchill, 38 Misc 3d 148[A], 2013 NY Slip Op 50380[U][App Term, 1st Dept 2013], lv denied 21 NY3d 1002 [2013]; People v Jennings, 34 Misc 3d 137[A], 2011 NY Slip Op 52407[U][App Term, 2nd, 11th and 13th Jud Dists 2011], lv granted 19 NY3d 962 [2012]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: December 13, 2013