Opinion
13402 Ind. No. 1172/15 Case No. 2017-2298
03-23-2021
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Otha WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.
Janet E. Sabel, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Denise Fabiano of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Claire E. Nielsen of counsel), for respondent.
Janet E. Sabel, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Denise Fabiano of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Claire E. Nielsen of counsel), for respondent.
Webber, J.P., Oing, Kennedy, Scarpulla, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (James M. Burke, J.), rendered August 17, 2016, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 3½ years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. There is no basis for disturbing the court's credibility determinations, which are supported by the record (see People v. Prochilo, 41 N.Y.2d 759, 761, 395 N.Y.S.2d 635, 363 N.E.2d 1380 [1977] ). A police officer's testimony that he saw defendant attempt to "double up" with another person, get stuck, and then step over a subway turnstile was not inherently unbelievable. Furthermore, this testimony was corroborated by a surveillance videotape, although the video was taken from a different angle from that of the officer's observations. Accordingly, the police had probable cause to make a lawful arrest for theft of services, which led to the recovery of a firearm.