| People v Robertson |
| 2013 NY Slip Op 06064 [109 AD3d 743] |
| September 26, 2013 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Gregory Robertson, Appellant. |
—[*1] Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Alice Wiseman of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J., at suppressionhearing; Thomas Farber, J., at plea and sentencing), rendered January 4, 2011, convictingdefendant of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing himto a term of four years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. There is no basis fordisturbing the court's credibility determinations. The police had information, provided byidentified citizen-witnesses speaking from personal knowledge, that defendant hadthreatened to shoot one of the witnesses and had conveyed, at least by words andgestures, that he had a firearm. Accordingly, the police had probable cause to arrestdefendant for menacing. The totality of the information in their possession, includingdefendant's conduct during the incident of returning to his vehicle parked nearby,supported a reasonable conclusion that defendant had a firearm in his car (see Peoplev Pacifico, 95 AD2d 215, 220 [1st Dept 1983]; see also People v Cofield, 55AD2d 113, 115 [1st Dept 1976], affd 43 NY2d 654 [1977]). Since the police hadreason to believe that defendant's vehicle contained evidence related to the crime forwhich he was arrested, the automobile exception to the requirement for a search warrantauthorized the officers to search the vehicle (see People v Galak, 81 NY2d 463,467 [1993]). Concur—Gonzalez, P.J., Mazzarelli, Acosta and Renwick, JJ.