| People v Soto |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 04934 [63 AD3d 512] |
| June 16, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Mario Soto, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Mark Dwyer of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Edward J. McLaughlin, J.), renderedNovember 20, 1991, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of aweapon in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of 2 to 6 years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. There was probable cause fordefendant's arrest, because a police officer saw him engage in what the officer reasonablybelieved to be a drug transaction (see People v McRay, 51 NY2d 594, 603-604 [1980]).The record establishes that, in a notorious "drug marketplace" (id. at 604), the officersaw the transfer of a shiny object that he recognized, based on his experience, to be drugpackaging, and not that he merely saw an unidentified object that he assumed to be drugsbecause of the character of the location. The record also supports the court's alternative findingthat the officer recovered a handgun through a legitimate self-protective measure based onreasonable suspicion and concern for his safety. Concur—Saxe, J.P., Sweeny, Moskowitz,Acosta and Richter, JJ.