Opinion
5933 Ind. 3136/14
03-08-2018
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Carl DAVIS, Defendant–Appellant.
Stanley Neustader, Cardozo Appeals Clinic, New York (Jonathan Oberman of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Kelly L. Smith of counsel), for respondent.
Stanley Neustader, Cardozo Appeals Clinic, New York (Jonathan Oberman of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Kelly L. Smith of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Richter, Andrias, Kapnick, Kahn, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Larry R.C. Stephen, J. at suppression hearing; Thomas Farber, J. at jury trial and sentencing), rendered May 26, 2015, convicting defendant of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of eight years, 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] ). Here, the officers knew that both the location and this particular defendant were associated with gang activity and violent crime. The police had, at least, reasonable suspicion to stop and frisk defendant, where defendant repeatedly adjusted an apparent object in his waistband, the officers saw an actual bulge in the waistband, and defendant made a "shooting" hand gesture to his companions. "Each of these circumstances, when viewed in isolation, might be considered innocuous, but when viewed in totality they provided reasonable suspicion of criminality" ( People v. Rodriguez, 71 A.D.3d 436, 437, 895 N.Y.S.2d 94 [1st Dept. 2010], lv denied 15 N.Y.3d 756, 906 N.Y.S.2d 829, 933 N.E.2d 228 [2010] ).