People v. Dunton

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

People v. Dunton

270 A.D.2d 51, 703 N.Y.S.2d 484, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2609

CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

DecidedMarch 9, 2000

StatusPublished

This text of 270 A.D.2d 51 (People v. Dunton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

People v. Dunton, 270 A.D.2d 51, 703 N.Y.S.2d 484, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2609 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2000).

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Opinion

—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (John Bradley, J.), rendered September 16, 1997, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of 5 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant’s suppression motion was properly denied. We see no reason to disturb the court’s credibility determinations, which are supported by the record. The police officers’ observations of defendant violently struggling with a woman and pulling her hair provided reasonable suspicion that defendant was committing or about to commit an assault against her, justifying the forcible detention of defendant at the scene. Reasonable suspicion, in these circumstances, did not require certainty that defendant was the aggressor (see, People v Chestnut, 51 NY2d 14, 22, cert denied 449 US 1018). The ensuing police conduct, during which a pistol was recovered from defendant after he refused to keep his hand out of his pocket despite repeated warnings, was likewise lawful (see, People v Thompson, 219 AD2d 548, lv denied 86 NY2d 875). Concur — Sullivan, P. J., Ellerin, Lerner and Buckley, JJ.

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—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (John Bradley, J.), rendered September 16, 1997, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of 5 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant’s suppression motion was properly denied. We see no reason to disturb the court’s credibility determinations, which are supported by the record. The police officers’ observations of defendant violently struggling with a woman and pulling her hair provided reasonable suspicion that defendant was committing or about to commit an assault against her, justifying the forcible detention of defendant at the scene. Reasonable suspicion, in these circumstances, did not require certainty that defendant was the aggressor (see, People v Chestnut, 51 NY2d 14, 22, cert denied 449 US 1018). The ensuing police conduct, during which a pistol was recovered from defendant after he refused to keep his hand out of his pocket despite repeated warnings, was likewise lawful (see, People v Thompson, 219 AD2d 548, lv denied 86 NY2d 875). Concur — Sullivan, P. J., Ellerin, Lerner and Buckley, JJ.

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Bluebook (online)

270 A.D.2d 51, 703 N.Y.S.2d 484, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-dunton-nyappdiv-2000.

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