| People v Jackson |
| 2007 NY Slip Op 07471 [44 AD3d 364] |
| October 9, 2007 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Lawrence Jackson, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Julie Paltrowitz of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert M. Stolz, J.), rendered January 12,2006, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance inthe third and fourth degrees, criminal use of drug paraphernalia in the second degree andunlawful possession of marijuana, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to anaggregate term of eight years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress contraband recovered from hisperson. The police lawfully executed a search warrant, which had been based on probable causeto believe that drugs were being sold from a particular apartment. The warrant authorized thepolice to search the apartment in which defendant was found and to search certain persons. Withthe exception of a possible recent change of hairstyle, defendant met the description of one ofthese persons, and thus the court correctly concluded that the police lawfully searched defendantpursuant to the warrant. The court also properly found, in the alternative, that there was probablecause to arrest defendant based on his suspicious behavior strongly suggesting that he wasconnected with the known narcotics activity at the apartment. Furthermore, as has frequentlybeen observed with regard to proof of possession, it is reasonable to conclude that occupants of a[*2]location used for selling drugs are likely to be participants inthe drug operation and not innocent visitors (see People v Bundy, 90 NY2d 918, 920[1997]).
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Lippman, P.J., Tom,Marlow, Gonzalez and Malone, JJ.