Opinion
14149 Ind. No. 2618/15 Case No. 2019–4932
07-01-2021
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Joseph GARNER, Defendant–Appellant.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (John Vang of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sheila O'Shea of counsel), for respondent.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (John Vang of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sheila O'Shea of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Gische, Oing, Mendez, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Melissa C. Jackson, J. at suppression hearing; Gilbert C. Hong, J. at jury trial and sentencing), rendered January 19, 2018, convicting defendant of attempted assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to an aggregate term of nine years, unanimously affirmed.
The court providently exercised its discretion in denying an adjournment of the suppression hearing. Although the court had just granted defendant's request to represent himself, the record shows that defendant had all the discovery material related to the case at least seven months before the hearing, and defendant's claim to the contrary is unsupported by the record. Accordingly, the denial of an adjournment was not unreasonable (see People v. Rodriguez, 158 A.D.3d 143, 154, 66 N.Y.S.3d 488 [1st Dept. 2018], lv denied 31 N.Y.3d 1017, 78 N.Y.S.3d 287, 102 N.E.3d 1068 [2018] ).
In any event, the denial of an adjournment did not prejudice defendant (see People v. Brown, 90 A.D.3d 545, 546, 934 N.Y.S.2d 414 [1st Dept. 2011], lv denied 18 N.Y.3d 922, 942 N.Y.S.2d 461, 965 N.E.2d 963 [2012] ). There is no reason to believe that, if given more time to prepare and conduct legal research, defendant could have made any arguments that would have changed the outcome of the hearing. In particular, the hearing record establishes that the police had reasonable suspicion justifying pursuit (see e. g. People v. Hickman, 185 A.D.3d 407, 408, 126 N.Y.S.3d 460 [1st Dept. 2020], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 1094, 131 N.Y.S.3d 316, 155 N.E.3d 809 [2020] ).
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.