People v. Anderson

149 A.D.3d 1407, 54 N.Y.S.3d 176
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided April 27, 2017·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinion

Garry, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Albany County (Herrick, J.), rendered July 31, 2013, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of conspiracy in the second degree, criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree (four counts), criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree (three counts), criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree (two counts), attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (two counts), attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and operating as a major trafficker.

Following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force, defendant was arrested in connection with an alleged conspiracy to possess and sell cocaine and heroin in Albany County, various other counties in New York, and Vermont, and charged with multiple crimes related to the criminal sale and possession of controlled substances. Following a joint jury trial,1 defendant was convicted of conspiracy in the second degree, criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree (four counts), criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree (three counts), criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree (two counts), attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance [1408] in the first degree (two counts), attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and operating as a major trafficker. He was thereafter sentenced as a persistent felony offender and a violent predicate offender to an aggregate prison term of 165 years to life. Defendant appeals.

Initially, we find no merit in defendant’s contention that County Court should have granted his motion to suppress evidence resulting from a search of his storage unit. A court’s determination that probable cause exists for the issuance of a search warrant “must be afforded great deference” (People v Ferguson, 136 AD3d 1070, 1072 [2016] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see People v Mitchell, 57 AD3d 1232, 1233 [2008], lv denied 12 NY3d 760 [2009]), and “[m]inor discrepancies or misstatements do not amount to egregious inaccuracies affecting a probable cause determination” (People v Myers, 241 AD2d 705, 707 [1997], lv denied 91 NY2d 877 [1997]). Here, an affidavit supporting the search warrant application incorrectly identified the specific vehicle upon which a GPS device had been placed for the purpose of tracking defendant’s visits to the storage unit. However, the investigator who completed the affidavit testified that this was an unintentional error, and stated that another vehicle, also belonging to defendant, was in fact monitored by the investigators. County Court credited this testimony and found that the evidence, taken as a whole, clearly indicated that the correct vehicle was monitored and that the application was otherwise supported by probable cause. Thus, defendant did not meet his burden to establish that the warrant application was based upon statements that “were knowingly false or made in reckless disregard of the truth” (People v Williams, 138 AD3d 1233, 1237 [2016] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted], lv denied 28 NY3d 939 [2016]; see People v Myers, 241 AD2d at 707).

Next, we reject defendant’s contention that his suppression motion should have been granted as to eavesdropping warrants pertaining to certain coconspirators. Defendant preserved the issue of his standing to challenge the warrants by raising it in his omnibus motion and, contrary to County Court’s determination, we find that he had standing to raise this issue. The challenged eavesdropping warrants permitted the interception of communications on phones used by several of defendant’s alleged coconspirators. The People subsequently submitted a new application for a warrant to intercept defendant’s cell phone communications that was supported, in part, by [1409] transcripts of intercepted conversations between one of the conspirators and defendant that allegedly revealed that defendant was supplying drugs to the conspirators. As a party to these conversations, with reason to believe that they would be offered against him, defendant had standing to challenge the warrants (see CPL 710.20 [2]; People v Fonville, 247 AD2d 115, 118 n [1998]; People v Truver, 244 AD2d 990, 990-991 [1997]).

County Court did not, however, err in denying defendant’s motion on this ground, as the warrant applications established that there was probable cause for their issuance and that traditional investigative procedures were unlikely to succeed (see CPL 700.15 [2], [4]; 700.20 [2]; People v Alnutt, 107 AD3d 1139, 1141 [2013], lv denied 22 NY3d 1136 [2014]; People v Ross, 97 AD3d 843, 844-845 [2012], lv denied 20 NY3d 935 [2012]). It was not necessary to establish “that every conceivable method of investigation has been tried and failed,” and the applications successfully demonstrated “the nature and progress of the investigation and the difficulties inherent in the use of normal law enforcement methods” (People v Brown, 233 AD2d 764, 765 [1996] [internal quotation marks, ellipsis and citations omitted], lv denied 89 NY2d 1009 [1997]; see People v Rodriguez, 274 AD2d 826, 828 [2000], lv denied 95 NY2d 938 [2000]). The record provides no support for defendant’s contention that the applications were based on knowing or reckless false averments by police (see People v Griffin, 234 AD2d 718, 720 [1996], lv denied 89 NY2d 1036 [1997]).

As for defendant’s contention that the sealing requirements of CPL 700.50 (2) and 700.65 (3) were not complied with in that several of the sealing orders were not signed by the justice who issued the warrants, the sealing requirements are strictly construed and the People are required to offer a satisfactory explanation for any delay that may take place in sealing the evidence (see People v Winograd, 68 NY2d 383, 394-395 [1986]; People v Mullen, 152 AD2d 260, 267 [1989]). In a county where other justices are available, if the People are unable to locate the issuing justice, they are required to find another justice to issue the sealed order (see People v Winograd, 68 NY2d at 394-395; People v Gallina, 66 NY2d 52, 59-60 [1985]; People v Fonville, 247 AD2d at 127). Here, investigators complied with this requirement and avoided undue delay by locating another justice to timely seal the evidence on three occasions when the issuing justice was unavailable.

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People v. Anderson, 149 A.D.3d 1407, 54 N.Y.S.3d 176 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2017).

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