Opinion
2021-50555
06-17-2021
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Sharon Gailes, Defendant-Appellant.
PRESENT: McShan, J.P., Brigantti, Hagler, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Diane Kiesel, J.), rendered October 2, 2015, after a nonjury trial, convicting her of attempted falsely reporting an incident in the third degree, and imposing sentence.
Judgment of conviction (Diane Kiesel, J.), rendered, affirmed.
The verdict convicting defendant of attempted falsely reporting an incident in the third degree (see Penal Law §§ 110.00, 240.50[3][a]) was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348-349 [2007]), which showed that defendant filed a Domestic Incident Report, falsely claiming that one James Weems went to her apartment and threatened to burn the apartment down. There is no basis for disturbing the court's determinations concerning credibility. Defendant's oral and written confession was sufficiently corroborated by other proof (see CPL 60.50; People v Baltes, 75 A.D.3d 656, 659 [2010], lv denied 15 N.Y.3d 918 [2010]), including the Domestic Incident Report, the testimony of Weems and documentation showing that Weems was elsewhere when he allegedly went to defendant's apartment.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. Defendant's oral and written confessions were not the product of unlawful detention. The record supports the hearing court's findings that defendant voluntarily went to the precinct at a mutually agreed upon time, and that she was not in custody at the time she made the confession (see People v Morales, 42 N.Y.2d 129, 137”138 [1977], cert denied 434 U.S. 1018 [1978]). Given the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable innocent person in defendant's position would not have thought she had been seized by the police (see People v Centano, 76 N.Y.2d 837 [1990]; People v Yukl, 25 N.Y.2d 585, 590”592 [1969], cert denied 400 U.S. 851 [1970]). Defendant was never handcuffed or otherwise restrained, the door to the interview room was left open, she was free to use the bathroom and the police did not do anything to convey that defendant was not free to leave (see People v Andrango, 106 A.D.3d 461 [2013], lv denied 21 N.Y.3d 1040 [2013]).