Opinion
1850
October 16, 2003.
Order of disposition, Family Court, New York County (Sheldon Rand, J.), entered October 22, 2002, which adjudicated appellant a juvenile delinquent, upon a fact-finding determination that he had committed an act which, if committed by an adult, would constitute the crime of criminal possession of marijuana in the fifth degree, and placed him on probation for 2 years, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Eva Pappadopoulos, for appellant.
Cheryl Payer, for Presentment Agency.
Before: Buckley, P.J., Tom, Saxe, Sullivan, Rosenberger, JJ.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. The officer testified that he observed appellant on the sidewalk, holding an unlit, inch-long object described by the officer as a "burnt marijuana cigar" or "blunt," which appellant promptly placed in his pants pocket upon the approach of the police, and which was ultimately found to contain marijuana. This testimony established that appellant possessed marijuana in a public place, and that the marijuana was "open to public view" (Penal Law § 221.10; cf. Matter of Camille H., 215 A.D.2d 143). Contrary to appellant's argument, we find nothing in the statute that can be read to require proof that the general public would be likely to recognize the particular object displayed as a device for smoking marijuana. Marijuana is smoked in various wrappers and devices that conceal the actual marijuana plant material, and we see no reason to make a violation of the statute turn on the type of device employed.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.