Opinion
13824 Ind. No. 4985N/15 Case No. 2019-314
05-13-2021
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Kevion HILL, Defendant–Appellant.
Caprice R. Jenerson, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Kami Lizarraga of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (John T. Hughes of counsel), for respondent.
Caprice R. Jenerson, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Kami Lizarraga of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (John T. Hughes of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Manzanet–Daniels, Kennedy, Shulman, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Juan M. Merchan, J. at suppression hearing; Kevin McGrath, J. at plea; Mark Dwyer, J. at sentencing), rendered July 20, 2017, as amended August 1, 2017, convicting defendant of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender previously convicted of a violent felony, to a term of 4½ years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress drugs recovered from defendant at the time of his arrest. Defendant does not dispute that, at the inception, the officers possessed an objective, credible reason for approaching him. Accordingly, escorting defendant off the elevator and into the hallway so they could talk to him was justified (see e.g. People v. Francois, 61 A.D.3d 524, 525, 877 N.Y.S.2d 54 [1st Dept. 2009], affd 14 N.Y.3d 732, 896 N.Y.S.2d 300, 923 N.E.2d 583 [2010] ). The record supports the court's detailed findings, made after evaluating all the hearing evidence including a surveillance videotape, that the police did not "grab" defendant when they escorted him out of the elevator, and that none of the police actions elevated the encounter to a level three seizure requiring reasonable suspicion (see People v. Bora, 83 N.Y.2d 531, 535, 611 N.Y.S.2d 796, 634 N.E.2d 168 [1994] ). Defendant thereafter provided the officers with probable cause to arrest him for criminal trespass by evidently falsely identifying a woman in the elevator as his aunt, as the reason for his presence in the building.