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People v. Buffa

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Nov 15, 1999
266 A.D.2d 400 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)

Opinion

Argued October 8, 1999

November 15, 1999

Warren S. Hecht, Forest Hills, N.Y., for appellant.

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano, Alyson J. Gill, and Douglas P. Baumstein of counsel), for respondent.

MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, J.P., ANITA R. FLORIO, HOWARD MILLER, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, JJ.


DECISION ORDER

Appeals by the defendant (1) from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Spires, J.), rendered March 9, 199 8, convicting him of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence, under Indictment No. 10382/97 and (2) an amended judgment of the same court (Roman, J.), rendered March 27, 1998, revoking a sentence of probation previously imposed by the same court, upon his admission that he had violated a condition thereof, and imposing a sentence of imprisonment upon his previous conviction of burglary in the third degree under Indictment No. 4314/94. The appeal from the judgment brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress a statement made by him to law enforcement officials.

ORDERED that the judgment and amended judgment are affirmed.

Suppression of the defendant's statement that the drugs belonged to him was properly denied, since the evidence adduced at the suppression hearing established that the statement was spontaneous in nature and, thus, admissible in the absence of Miranda warnings (see, People v. Rosario, 245 A.D.2d 470 ; People v. Johnson, 240 A.D.2d 432 ).

The defendant's claim that the evidence was legally insufficient is not preserved for appellate review, since he never raised the specific arguments before the trial court that he seeks to raise now (see, People v. Gray, 86 N.Y.2d 10 ; People v. Fields, 188 A.D.2d 612 ). In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see, People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620 ), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant' s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant gave his address as the apartment in which the drugs were found, and also claimed ownership of the drugs (see, People v. Pinchback, 187 A.D.2d 540, affd 82 N.Y.2d 857 ). Moreover, upon the exercise of our factual review power, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see, CPL 470.15[5]).

In light of the foregoing, the defendant's claims with regard to the amended judgment are without merit.

ALTMAN, J.P., FLORIO, H. MILLER, and SCHMIDT, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Buffa

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Nov 15, 1999
266 A.D.2d 400 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)
Case details for

People v. Buffa

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, etc., respondent, v. MICHAEL BUFFA, appellant. (Ind. Nos…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Nov 15, 1999

Citations

266 A.D.2d 400 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)
698 N.Y.S.2d 692

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