Opinion
2013-05-21
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Frederick YOUNG, Defendant–Appellant.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP, New York (David Abramowicz of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Joshua L. Haber of counsel), for respondent.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP, New York (David Abramowicz of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Joshua L. Haber of counsel), for respondent.
TOM, J.P., ACOSTA, RENWICK, DEGRASSE, RICHTER, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.), rendered April 26, 2011, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of one to three years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. Defendant's arrest, which led to the recovery of a gravity knife in his possession, was supported by probable cause ( see People v. McRay, 51 N.Y.2d 594, 602–604, 435 N.Y.S.2d 679, 416 N.E.2d 1015 [1980] ). Defendant was arrested based on an experienced officer's observation of a transaction in which defendant gave money to another individual in exchange for a small plastic bag containing a brown substance that the officer believed to be marijuana. We reject defendant's assertion that the officer was insufficiently experienced to recognize, as a drug transaction, the events he observed. Moreover, as in People v. Graham, 211 A.D.2d 55, 60, 626 N.Y.S.2d 95 [1995],lv. denied86 N.Y.2d 795, 632 N.Y.S.2d 508, 656 N.E.2d 607 [1995], even without police training, “any person observing defendant... using good common sense” would have concluded that he had purchased drugs.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.