Opinion
04-27-2017
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Felipe CARMONA, Defendant–Appellant.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Siobhan C. Atkins of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Courtney M. Wen of counsel), for respondent.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Siobhan C. Atkins of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Courtney M. Wen of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert M. Stolz, J.), rendered April 24, 2013, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender previously convicted of a violent felony, to a term of 3 ½ years, followed by 3 years of postrelease supervision, 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] ). Testimony credited by the court established that an officer observed defendant engaging in what reasonably appeared to be a drug transaction, and that as the officer approached, he detected the odor of PCP (see People v. Darby, 263 A.D.2d 112, 114, 701 N.Y.S.2d 395 [1st Dept.2000], lv. denied 95 N.Y.2d 795, 711 N.Y.S.2d 163, 733 N.E.2d 235 [2000] ). The officer sufficiently explained his ability to smell the PCP at a distance, and defendant's arguments to the contrary rest on speculation and factual assertions unsupported by the record.
We perceive no basis for reducing the term of postrelease supervision.
SWEENY, J.P., ACOSTA, RENWICK, MOSKOWITZ, KAHN, JJ., concur.