| People v Johnson |
| 2018 NY Slip Op 01730 [159 AD3d 1382] |
| March 16, 2018 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v DonaldJohnson, Appellant. |
Erickson Webb Scolton & Hajdu, Lakewood (Lyle T. Hajdu of counsel), fordefendant-appellant.
John J. Flynn, District Attorney, Buffalo (Daniel J. Punch of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Erie County (M. William Boller, A.J.),rendered January 29, 2016. The judgment convicted defendant, upon his plea of guilty, ofattempted murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the seconddegree.
It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon a plea of guilty of attemptedmurder in the second degree (Penal Law §§ 110.00, 125.25 [1]) and criminalpossession of a weapon in the second degree (§ 265.03 [3]), defendant contends thatSupreme Court erred in refusing to suppress a handgun that was seized from a vehicle in whichhe was the front seat passenger. We reject that contention.
The record from the suppression hearing establishes that, at approximately 6:55 p.m., thepolice received a report that gunshots had been fired near a specified street and the shooterentered the front passenger side of a red Chevy Trailblazer with a specific license plate numberand a total of five occupants. When officers responded to the scene, they spoke with theidentified citizen complainant, who repeated the same information. The complainant had beensitting in the driver's side of his vehicle when the shooter and another man walked past. Theshooter turned and shot twice at the vehicle. One bullet had entered the rear window and waslodged in the driver's seat headrest. The complainant gave the same information to the officers asthey had received on their police dispatch, with the additional information that the two men whohad walked by were "light skinned."
Ten minutes later, another police officer observed the same Chevy Trailblazer approximatelythree blocks from the site of the shooting. The officer stopped the vehicle and removed the threepassengers. While defendant was being frisked by one officer, another officer began to search thevehicle, discovering and seizing the loaded handgun from a compartment behind the glove box.Defendant and the two other occupants were arrested.
We conclude that, contrary to defendant's contention, the court properly deemed the searchpermissible under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement, which permits policeofficers to "search a vehicle without a warrant when they have probable cause to believe thatevidence or contraband will be found there" (People v Galak, 81 NY2d 463, 467 [1993];see People v Blasich, 73 NY2d 673, 678 [1989]; see also Pennsylvania v Labron,518 US 938, 940 [1996]). The exception requires "both probable cause to search the automobilegenerally and a nexus between the probable cause to search and the crime for which the arrest isbeing made" (People v Langen, 60 NY2d 170, 181 [1983], cert denied 465 US1028 [1984]).
" 'In dealing with probable cause, however, as the very name implies, we deal with[*2]probabilities. These are not technical; they are the factual andpractical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legaltechnicians, act' . . . Probable cause does not require proof beyond a reasonabledoubt," but merely requires "a reasonable ground for belief" (People v Simpson, 244AD2d 87, 90-91 [1st Dept 1998], quoting Brinegar v United States, 338 US 160, 175[1949]).
Here, we conclude that the police, at the time of the search, had probable cause to believethat a handgun was in the vehicle, and that the police therefore were not required to obtain awarrant. "The police had information, provided by [an] identified citizen-witness[ ] speakingfrom personal knowledge," that the person who had shot at the witness had entered the frontpassenger seat of that specific vehicle with the handgun (People v Robertson, 109 AD3d 743, 743 [1st Dept 2013], lvdenied 22 NY3d 1090 [2014]; see People v Williams, 301 AD2d 543, 543 [2d Dept2003], lv denied 100 NY2d 589 [2003]; cf. People v Torres, 74 NY2d 224,230-231 [1989]). "[T]he spatial and temporal factors" as well as the description of the specificvehicle and seat occupied by the shooter "provided more than sufficient probable cause. . . to search the [vehicle] for a gun pursuant to the automobile exception"(People v Hayes, 291 AD2d 334, 335 [1st Dept 2002], lv denied 98 NY2d 697[2002]; see generally Galak, 81 NY2d at 467).
Based on our resolution, we do not address the court's secondary justification for upholdingthe search. Present—Smith, J.P., Peradotto, Lindley, Curran and Winslow, JJ.