Opinion
862 KA 19-00969
12-23-2021
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Tyler D. MAGEE, Defendant-Appellant.
THE LEGAL AID BUREAU OF BUFFALO, INC., BUFFALO (ALAN WILLIAMS OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. JOHN J. FLYNN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, BUFFALO (DANIEL J. PUNCH OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.
THE LEGAL AID BUREAU OF BUFFALO, INC., BUFFALO (ALAN WILLIAMS OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
JOHN J. FLYNN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, BUFFALO (DANIEL J. PUNCH OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.
PRESENT: CENTRA, J.P., PERADOTTO, LINDLEY, NEMOYER, AND CURRAN, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree ( Penal Law § 265.03 [3] ). Preliminarily, we note that defendant did not waive his right to appeal in this case; although defendant stated during the plea colloquy that he was "willing" to waive his right to appeal as part of the plea bargain, he was never thereafter called upon to actually waive that right. Contrary to defendant's contentions on the merits, however, County Court properly refused to suppress the subject guns on reargument because, for the reasons that follow, he was not subjected to either a De Bour level one interaction on the street or to a level three seizure in the form of pursuit (see generally People v. Arnau , 58 N.Y.2d 27, 32, 457 N.Y.S.2d 763, 444 N.E.2d 13 [1982], cert denied 468 U.S. 1217, 104 S.Ct. 3585, 82 L.Ed.2d 883 [1984] ; People v. De Bour , 40 N.Y.2d 210, 223, 386 N.Y.S.2d 375, 352 N.E.2d 562 [1976] ). We therefore have no occasion to consider whether the police would have had the requisite basis to conduct either a level one interaction or a level three seizure under these circumstances.
A level one interaction is a request for information in which an officer asks " ‘basic, nonthreatening questions regarding, for instance, identity, address or destination’ " ( People v. Garcia , 20 N.Y.3d 317, 322, 959 N.Y.S.2d 464, 983 N.E.2d 259 [2012], quoting People v. Hollman , 79 N.Y.2d 181, 185, 581 N.Y.S.2d 619, 590 N.E.2d 204 [1992] ). Here, it is undisputed that the officers never " ‘request[ed] information’ " from defendant as he walked down the street or as he ran into a house ( id. ). Indeed, the officers had no contact of any kind with defendant before or as he ran into the house (cf. People v. Terracciano , 135 A.D.2d 849, 850-851, 523 N.Y.S.2d 137 [2d Dept. 1987], lv denied 71 N.Y.2d 903, 527 N.Y.S.2d 1012, 523 N.E.2d 319 [1988] ). Level one analysis is thus inapplicable in this case (see People v. Birch , 171 A.D.3d 938, 939-940, 97 N.Y.S.3d 222 [2d Dept. 2019], lv denied 33 N.Y.3d 1102, 106 N.Y.S.3d 657, 130 N.E.3d 1267 [2019] ; People v. Thornton , 238 A.D.2d 33, 35, 667 N.Y.S.2d 705 [1st Dept. 1998] ).
Nor did the officers pursue defendant into the house and thereby effect a level three seizure. Pursuit constitutes a level three seizure for De Bour purposes " ‘where [the] police action results in a significant interruption [of the] individual's liberty of movement’ " ( People v. Allen , 188 A.D.3d 1595, 1596, 135 N.Y.S.3d 211 [4th Dept. 2020], lv denied 36 N.Y.3d 1117, 146 N.Y.S.3d 186, 169 N.E.3d 544 [2021], quoting People v. Bora , 83 N.Y.2d 531, 534, 611 N.Y.S.2d 796, 634 N.E.2d 168 [1994] ), and that did not occur here. Defendant had already entered the house of his own volition before the officers got out of their vehicle or said anything to him, and the subsequent actions of one officer in approaching the house, knocking on the door, and securing the occupant's implicit permission to enter did not and could not have impeded defendant's freedom of movement to be where he had already chosen to be, i.e., inside the house (see People v. Hughes , 174 A.D.2d 692, 693-694, 571 N.Y.S.2d 548 [2d Dept. 1991], lv denied 78 N.Y.2d 967, 574 N.Y.S.2d 947, 580 N.E.2d 419 [1991] ; see also Allen , 188 A.D.3d at 1596, 135 N.Y.S.3d 211 ; People v. Giles , 223 A.D.2d 39, 43, 647 N.Y.S.2d 4 [1st Dept. 1996], lv denied 89 N.Y.2d 864, 653 N.Y.S.2d 287, 675 N.E.2d 1240 [1996] ).
To the extent that the court's implicit credibility findings are material to the resolution of this appeal, we perceive no basis to disturb those determinations (see People v. Ponzo , 111 A.D.3d 1347, 1347-1348, 975 N.Y.S.2d 274 [4th Dept. 2013] ). We add only that, contrary to defendant's characterization, his challenges to the suppression court's credibility findings are not properly analyzed within the framework that governs our review of the weight of the evidence underlying a guilty verdict (compare CPL 470.15 [5] with CPL 470.15 [1] ; see generally People v. Wilson , 5 N.Y.3d 778, 780, 802 N.Y.S.2d 112, 835 N.E.2d 1220 [2005] ; People v. Prochilo , 41 N.Y.2d 759, 761, 395 N.Y.S.2d 635, 363 N.E.2d 1380 [1977] ).