| People v Correa |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 07433 [55 AD3d 1380] |
| October 3, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Christian A.Correa, Appellant. |
—[*1] Michael C. Green, District Attorney, Rochester (Nicole M. Fantigrossi of counsel), forrespondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the Monroe County Court (Alex R. Renzi, J.), rendered June 22, 2005.The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of criminal possession of a weapon in the thirddegree and menacing in the second degree.
It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of, inter alia, criminalpossession of a weapon in the third degree (Penal Law § 265.02 [1]), defendant contends thatreversal is required based on a Payton violation. We reject that contention. The evidence at thePayton hearing established that, when the police approached defendant's house, defendant wasstanding in the open doorway and that the police entry into the house was minimal, to enable them totake control of defendant before removing him from the house. "The doorway to a private house is apublic place for purposes of Fourth Amendment analysis, since a defendant has no legitimateexpectation of privacy while standing there, exposed to public view . . . Since thedefendant was arrested at the threshold of his residence, the defendant's arrest did not implicatePayton rights" (People v Reynoso, 309 AD2d 769, 770 [2003], affd 2 NY3d820 [2004]; see People v Brown, 13AD3d 1194 [2004], lv denied 4 NY3d 828 [2005]; People v Schiavo, 212AD2d 816 [1995], lv denied 85 NY2d 942 [1995]). In any event, even assuming, arguendo,that the police entered defendant's house, we conclude that the evidence at the Payton hearingestablished that there were exigent circumstances to justify their warrantless entry (see generally People v Kilgore, 21 AD3d1257, 1257-1258 [2005]). The evidence established that the police responded to defendant'shouse while investigating a complaint that defendant had recently threatened his girlfriend by pointing agun at her head, there was reason for the police to believe that defendant was still armed, there was ashowing of probable cause, defendant was present at the house at the time of the arrest, and the policeentered peacefully. Present—Martoche, J.P., Lunn, Fahey and Pine, JJ.