People v Sawyer
2007 NY Slip Op 08094 [44 AD3d 970]
October 23, 2007
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, December 12, 2007


The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Divine Sawyer, Appellant.

[*1]Mark Diamond, New York, N.Y., for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove and Anne C. Feigus ofcounsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (J. Goldberg,J.), rendered October 31, 2002, convicting him of murder in the first degree, attempted murder inthe second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, upon a jury verdict,and imposing sentence. The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of that branchof the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress his statements to law enforcementofficials.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

Contrary to the defendant's contention, the Supreme Court providently exercised itsdiscretion in making its Sandoval ruling (see People v Sandoval, 34 NY2d 371[1974]).

Moreover, the evidence supports the hearing court's determination that the defendant'sstatements were made after he knowingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights(see Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436 [1966]). The defendant's statements were not theproduct of any distress caused by a medical condition, as evinced by his lengthy delay inmentioning his medical condition to the police (see People v Brown, 5 AD3d 789 [2004]; People v Soto,295 AD2d 230 [2002]).

The defendant's contentions raised in point 2 of his brief regarding the jury charge, and inpoint 6 of his brief regarding alleged juror bias, are unpreserved for appellate review and, in anyevent, are without merit. The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit or do notrequire reversal. Spolzino, J.P., Santucci, Skelos and Dickerson, JJ., concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.