Opinion
6011 1247/08
03-15-2018
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Anibal VAZQUEZ, Defendant–Appellant.
Christina A. Swarns, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Stephen R. Strother of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Brent Ferguson of counsel), for respondent.
Christina A. Swarns, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Stephen R. Strother of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Brent Ferguson of counsel), for respondent.
Manzanet–Daniels, J.P., Tom, Mazzarelli, Webber, Kern, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert M. Stolz, J.), rendered January 21, 2009, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of sexual abuse in the first degree (six counts), and endangering the welfare of a child, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of seven years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress photographs obtained from his cell phone, which was initially searched without a warrant upon defendant's arrest, and then searched pursuant to a warrant. The police already had probable cause to search defendant's cell phone based on an independent source, in that the victim told the police that defendant had shown her sexually explicit photographs in the course of his sexual abuse, and this was the basis for the warrant. The evidence does not support a conclusion that the police conducted an "unlawful confirmatory search" ( People v. Burr , 70 N.Y.2d 354, 362, 520 N.Y.S.2d 739, 514 N.E.2d 1363 [1987], cert denied 485 U.S. 989, 108 S.Ct. 1294, 99 L.Ed.2d 505 [1988] ) to confirm the victim's information before applying for a warrant. Under these circumstances, it cannot be said that the "the prosecution has somehow exploited or benefited from its illegal conduct" so as to taint the evidence retrieved pursuant to the warrant ( Burr , 70 N.Y.2d at 362, 520 N.Y.S.2d 739, 514 N.E.2d 1363 ; see also People v. Arnau , 58 N.Y.2d 27, 32, 457 N.Y.S.2d 763, 444 N.E.2d 13 [1982] ). Furthermore, defendant gave written permission to the police to search his phone before they applied for the warrant.