People v Camber
2018 NY Slip Op 08838 [167 AD3d 1558]
December 21, 2018
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, January 30, 2018


[*1]
 The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Ronzell Camber, Appellant.

Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society, Syracuse (Darienn M. Powers of counsel), fordefendant-appellant.

William J. Fitzpatrick, District Attorney, Syracuse (Kenneth H. Tyler, Jr., of counsel), forrespondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Onondaga County (John J. Brunetti, A.J.),rendered April 12, 2016. The judgment convicted defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminalpossession of a weapon in the second 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,of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (Penal Law § 265.03 [3]).We now affirm.

Supreme Court properly refused to suppress a loaded gun recovered from defendant's personafter the vehicle in which he was riding pulled over. Within approximately one minute and threeblocks of a corroborated 911 report of shots fired, a police officer observed a vehicle thatappeared to match the description provided by the 911 caller of a vehicle "possibly involved" inthe shooting. Although defendant correctly argues that the officer effectuated a level three seizureat the moment he ordered defendant and the other occupants to remain in the vehicle (seePeople v Harrison, 57 NY2d 470, 476 [1982]), we nevertheless agree with the People that,given the circumstances described above, the officer possessed the requisite reasonable suspicionof criminality to effect that seizure (seePeople v Martinez, 147 AD3d 642, 642 [1st Dept 2017], lv denied 29 NY3d1034 [2017]; People v Williams,126 AD3d 1304, 1304-1305 [4th Dept 2015], lv denied 25 NY3d 1209 [2015];People v Sanchez, 216 AD2d 207, 208 [1st Dept 1995], lv denied 87 NY2d 850[1995]). Defendant's ensuing refusal to follow that officer's directive to show his hands andrelated evasive conduct justified the subsequent pat frisk in which the gun was discovered (see People v Mack, 49 AD3d1291, 1292 [4th Dept 2008], lv denied 10 NY3d 866 [2008]).

The sentence is not unduly harsh or severe. Present—Smith, J.P., Lindley, DeJoseph,NeMoyer and Curran, JJ.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.