Opinion
No. 570385/08.
2013-03-20
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Marvin CHURCHILL, Defendant–Appellant.
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Evelyn J. Laporte, J.), rendered March 19, 2008, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and imposing sentence.
Present: LOWE, III, P.J., SHULMAN, TORRES, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Judgment of conviction (Evelyn Laporte, J.), rendered March 19, 2008, affirmed.
In the absence of any indication in the plea colloquy that defendant was informed of his right to be prosecuted on an information and knowingly waived that right, the accusatory instrument must be treated as an information for the purpose of assessing its facial sufficiency ( see People v. Kalin, 12 NY3d 225, 228 [2009] ). So viewed, the factual portion of the accusatory instrument established reasonable cause to believe and a prima facie case that defendant was guilty of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree (Penal Law § 220.03) by alleging, inter alia, that, at a specified time and location, the arresting police officer “recovered a pipe/stem containing crack/cocaine residue” from defendant's right hand and that the officer believed the substance was crack/cocaine “based upon his ... professional training as a police officer in the identification of drugs and his ... prior experience as a police officer in drug arrests” ( see Kalin, 12 NY3d at 231–232;People v. Pearson, 78 AD3d 445 [2010],lv denied16 NY3d 799 [2011];People v. Mack, 29 Misc.3d 140[A], 2010 N.Y. Slip Op 52073 [U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2010], lv denied16 NY3d 833 [2011] ).