People v. Brown (James)

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: September 18, 2019
• Docket: 2019 NYSlipOp 51493(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

James Brown, Defendant-Appellant.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Marisol Martinez Alonso, J.), rendered April 30, 2018, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of driving while intoxicated, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment of conviction (Marisol Martinez Alonso, J.), rendered April 30, 2018, affirmed.

The accusatory instrument was not jurisdictionally defective. It charged all the elements of driving while intoxicated (see Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192[2]). Insofar as relevant, allegations that defendant was observed at "FDR Drive and East 95th Street," "sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle," with the "keys in the ignition," and with "no one else inside," and that the vehicle was positioned "immediately behind a yellow taxi cab" which had a back door that was "dented such that it could not open," were sufficient to support the inference that defendant was operating a motor vehicle (see People v Esposito, 33 NY3d 1016 [2019], reversing 60 Misc 3d 60 [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2018]; see also People v Alamo, 34 NY2d 453, 458-459 [1974]; People v Almanzar, 113 AD3d 527 [2014], lv denied 23 NY3d 1059 [2014]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.

I concur I concur I concur
Decision Date: September 18, 2019