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People v. Lewis

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.
Feb 9, 2016
136 A.D.3d 468 (N.Y. App. Div. 2016)

Opinion

02-09-2016

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Alexander LEWIS, Defendant–Appellant.

Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Steven R. Berko of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Hope Korenstein of counsel), for respondent.


Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Steven R. Berko of counsel), for appellant.Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Hope Korenstein of counsel), for respondent.

Judgments, Supreme Court, New York County (Lawrence K. Marks, J. at hearing; Bonnie G. Wittner, J., at plea and sentencing), rendered February 28, 2012, convicting defendant, upon his pleas of guilty, of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of two to four years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. There is no basis for disturbing the court's credibility determinations (see People v. Prochilo, 41 N.Y.2d 759, 761, 395 N.Y.S.2d 635, 363 N.E.2d 1380 [1977] ). Defendant argues that police testimony that defendant lingered near the crime scene, thereby foolishly allowing himself to be arrested, was implausible. However, as the Court of Appeals observed long ago, "the propensity of criminals to blunder has long been recognized as a characteristic of great value in the detection of crime," and persons convicted of crimes are known to make errors that "would have seemed almost impossible in the case of a person of ordinary common sense" (People v. Becker, 215 N.Y. 126, 136, 109 N.E. 127 [1915] ).

MAZZARELLI, J.P., MOSKOWITZ, RICHTER, GISCHE, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Lewis

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.
Feb 9, 2016
136 A.D.3d 468 (N.Y. App. Div. 2016)
Case details for

People v. Lewis

Case Details

Full title:The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Alexander LEWIS…

Court:Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

Date published: Feb 9, 2016

Citations

136 A.D.3d 468 (N.Y. App. Div. 2016)
24 N.Y.S.3d 504
2016 N.Y. Slip Op. 887

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