Opinion
No. 570480/19
12-18-2023
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Gilbert Battles, Defendant-Appellant.
Unpublished Opinion
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Ilana J. Marcus, J.), rendered May 8, 2019, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of obstructing governmental administration in the second degree, and imposing sentence.
PRESENT: Hagler, P.J., Brigantti, Tisch, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Judgment of conviction (Ilana J. Marcus, J.), rendered May 8, 2019, affirmed.
In view of defendant's knowing waiver of his right to prosecution by information, the facial sufficiency of the accusatory instrument must be assessed under the standard required of a misdemeanor complaint (see People v Dumay, 23 N.Y.3d 518, 522 [2014]). So viewed, the accusatory instrument was jurisdictionally valid because it described facts of an evidentiary nature establishing reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of obstructing governmental administration in the second degree (see Penal Law § 195.05). The instrument, which charged second-degree obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and fourth degree criminal possession of marijuana, among other offenses, recites that on May 7, 2019, a uniformed police officer observed the defendant rolling a marijuana cigarette in a public place, which was illegal at the time of the incident (see former Penal Law § 221); that the officer approached the defendant and told him to "hand" over the marijuana cigarette; that defendant "thr[e]w the marijuana cigarette into a bush"; and defendant flailed his arms, "making it difficult to handcuff him"; and that a pouch was recovered containing a substance that the officer knew was marijuana, based upon his experience as a police officer making drug arrests and his observation of the packaging, which is characteristic of marijuana. Contrary to defendant's present contention, these allegations were sufficient for pleading purposes to establish that defendant intentionally obstructed a police officer from performing an official function, i.e. an authorized arrest (see People v Sumter, 151 A.D.3d 556, 557-558 [2017]; People v Nichols, 60 Misc.3d 127 (A), 2018 NY Slip Op 50915(U) [App Term, 1st Dept 2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 1067 [2018]).