| People v Gonzalez |
| 2013 NY Slip Op 08123 [112 AD3d 440] |
| December 5, 2013 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Richard Gonzalez, Appellant. |
—[*1] Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Malancha Chanda of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Thomas Farber, J. at suppressionhearing; Patricia M. Nunez, J. at jury trial and sentencing), rendered May 24, 2012,convicting defendant of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, andsentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 3½ to 7 years,unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. The officer had probablecause to arrest defendant for disorderly conduct. At the very least, defendant recklesslycreated a risk of "public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm" (Penal Law §240.20) in a crowded subway station by loudly and angrily cursing police officers,violently waving his arms, screaming at passersby to complain of the police officers'conduct, and forcing subway riders to get out of his way. This escalated defendant'sinitially individual interaction with the police officer so as to create a "potential orimmediate public problem" (People v Weaver, 16 NY3d 123, 128 [2011]; compare People v Baker, 20NY3d 354, 359 [2013]). We note that the evidence adduced at the hearing was onlyrequired to demonstrate probable cause to believe defendant had committed disorderlyconduct, as opposed to a legally sufficient case or proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Therecord also supports the court's alternative grounds for denying suppression.
The court properly instructed the jury that the knowledge element would be satisfiedby proof establishing defendant's knowledge that he possessed a knife in general, and didnot require proof of defendant's knowledge that the knife met the statutory definition of agravity knife (see e.g. People vNeal, 79 AD3d 523, 524 [1st Dept 2010], lv denied 16 NY3d 799[2011]; [*2]People v Berrier, 223 AD2d 456 [1stDept 1996], lv denied 88 NY2d 876 [1996]).
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P.,Sweeny, DeGrasse, Freedman and Gische, JJ.