| People v Gregory |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 03554 [72 AD3d 1522] |
| April 30, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Dyani A.Gregory, Appellant. |
—[*1] Michael C. Green, District Attorney, Rochester (Elizabeth Clifford of counsel), forrespondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the Monroe County Court (John R. Schwartz, A.J.), renderedMarch 5, 2007. The judgment convicted defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminalpossession of a weapon in the third degree.
It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon his plea of guilty ofcriminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (Penal Law § 265.02 [former (4)]).The conviction arises from an incident in which a police officer heard loud music coming froman empty vehicle parked on a public street and observed defendant standing near the opendriver's side window. The officer issued a noise ordinance violation to defendant and determinedthat the vehicle should be towed and impounded pursuant to a City of Rochester towingordinance. During an inventory search of the vehicle, the officer found, inter alia, a handgun andhospital discharge papers bearing defendant's name. In pretrial motions and during thesuppression hearing, defense counsel unsuccessfully attempted to demonstrate that defendant didnot own or possess the vehicle and thus that the police lacked probable cause to arrest himinasmuch as there was no connection between defendant and the handgun.
We reject the contention of defendant that he was denied effective assistance of counselbased on defense counsel's unsuccessful attempt to establish that certain physical evidenceshould be suppressed (see generally People v Baldi, 54 NY2d 137, 147 [1981]). Thatcontention is "based largely on [defendant's] hindsight disagreement[ ] with defense counsel's. . . strategies, and defendant failed to meet his burden of establishing the absenceof any legitimate explanations for those strategies" (People v Morrison, 48 AD3d 1044, 1045 [2008], lv denied10 NY3d 867 [2008]; see People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 712-713 [1998]).Present—Scudder, P.J., Peradotto, Lindley and Sconiers, JJ.