Summary
In People v. Rivera, 127 AD3d 622 (1st Dept. 2015), defendant was arrested before the search of the car, and the search of a separate container was specifically justified because of its specifically described suspicious nature.
Summary of this case from People v. Devon EnglishOpinion
2015-04-28
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Isaac RIVERA, Defendant–Appellant.
Mischel & Horn, P.C., New York (Richard E. Mischel of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sheila L. Bautista of counsel), and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, New York (Regina Y. Won of counsel), for respondent.
Mischel & Horn, P.C., New York (Richard E. Mischel of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sheila L. Bautista of counsel), and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, New York (Regina Y. Won of counsel), for respondent.
, P.J., MAZZARELLI, RENWICK, GISCHE, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J. at suppression hearing; Laura A. Ward, J. at plea; Melissa C. Jackson, J. at sentencing), rendered February 4, 2013, as amended March 4, 2013, convicting defendant of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender, to a term of four years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. There is no basis for disturbing the court's credibility determinations. The odor of marijuana provided probable cause to arrest defendant and search his car ( see People v. Robinson, 103 A.D.3d 421, 421–422, 959 N.Y.S.2d 188 [1st Dept 2013], lv. denied 20 N.Y.3d 1103, 965 N.Y.S.2d 799, 988 N.E.2d 537 [2013] ). The search of the area under the car's center console came within the proper scope of a search pursuant to the automobile exception ( see People v. Langen, 60 N.Y.2d 170, 180–182, 469 N.Y.S.2d 44, 456 N.E.2d 1167 [1983], cert. denied 465 U.S. 1028, 104 S.Ct. 1287, 79 L.Ed.2d 690 [1984] ), and was particularly reasonable in light of the officer's observation that the console appeared to have been altered to create a hiding place for drugs.