| People v Carlos |
| 2016 NY Slip Op 04068 [139 AD3d 1080] |
| May 25, 2016 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Milton W. Carlos, Appellant. |
Kenyon C. Trachte, Newburgh, NY, for appellant.
David M. Hoovler, District Attorney, Middletown, NY (Elizabeth L. Schulz andAndrew R. Kass of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Orange County(Berry, J.), rendered April 3, 2012, convicting him of criminal possession of a forgedinstrument in the second degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence. Theappeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of those branches of thedefendant's omnibus motion which were to suppress physical evidence and statements hemade to law enforcement officials.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
At a suppression hearing, New York State Trooper Moore testified that on July 26,2011, his dispatcher received a call from a loss prevention employee of a Walmart store,who said that there were two people in the store attempting to buy merchandise withfraudulent credit cards. Moore and his partner, State Trooper Kelly, drove to the store.While they were en route, the dispatcher relayed to them that the two individuals wereseen leaving the store in a dark-colored Chevrolet TrailBlazer. As the troopers enteredthe Walmart parking lot, Moore observed a dark-colored Chevrolet TrailBlazer leavingthe lot. Moore and Kelly then turned around and pulled over the TrailBlazer.
Kelly testified at the suppression hearing that he spoke to the front seat passenger,whom he identified as the defendant. The defendant provided Kelly with a Connecticutnondriver identification card with the name Jarmel Gilthris on it. Kelly informed thedefendant that if he was using a fake name, the police would discover this after taking hisfingerprints at the police station. The defendant then revealed that his real name wasMilton W. Carlos.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the County Court denied those branches of thedefendant's omnibus motion which were to suppress physical evidence and his statementsto law enforcement officials. The defendant was later convicted, upon his plea of guilty,of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree. The defendantappeals.
Contrary to the People's contention, the defendant's purported waiver of his right toappeal was invalid. The record does not demonstrate that the defendant understood thenature of the right to appeal and the consequences of waiving it (see People v Bradshaw, 18NY3d 257, 267 [2011];[*2]People v Argilagos, 136 AD3d 1050 [2016];People v Brown, 122 AD3d133, 140 [2014]).
Contrary to the defendant's contention, the County Court properly denied thosebranches of his omnibus motion which were to suppress physical evidence and hisstatements to law enforcement officials. "The police have the right to stop a citizen andinquire of him [or her] if they have reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot.And this is so . . . even if the information prompting the inquiry isunsubstantiated hearsay" (People v Landy, 59 NY2d 369, 376 [1983] [citationsomitted]). Here, the police had reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle in which thedefendant was a passenger on the basis of the information they received from policeradio transmissions (see Peoplev Cruz, 137 AD3d 1158, 1159 [2016]; People v Ceruti, 133 AD3d 610, 611 [2015]; People v Currie, 131 AD3d1265, 1265 [2015]). Further, contrary to the defendant's contention, Kelly's warningto him that the police would discover his true name if he had given a false one did notrequire Miranda warnings (see Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436 [1966]).Kelly's warning was not reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response (see People v Paulman, 5 NY3d122, 129 [2005]). To the contrary, the defendant had already incriminated himself,and the warning gave him an opportunity to retract his prior incriminating response (see People v Allen, 118 AD3d902, 903 [2014]; People vLigon, 66 AD3d 516, 517 [2009]). Chambers, J.P., Dickerson, Hinds-Radix andConnolly, JJ., concur.