People v. Green

121 Misc. 2d 522, 468 N.Y.S.2d 309, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3954
CourtNassau County District Court
DecidedOctober 4, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 121 Misc. 2d 522 (People v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nassau County District Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Green, 121 Misc. 2d 522, 468 N.Y.S.2d 309, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3954 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Harold Fertig, J.

On November 19,1981, the Court of Appeals, in the case of People v Ponder (54 NY2d 160) adopted the rule defined in United States v Salvucci (448 US 83), which abrogated the “automatic standing” rule for a defendant to challenge a search which was in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. This defendant, a passenger in a motor vehicle, brought a motion requesting the court to order a hearing to determine the standing of the defendant to move for the suppression of evidence seized on some grounds which are novel in the State of New York.

The original motion of the defendant was granted to the extent that the court ordered a hearing to determine whether the defendant had such standing.

At the hearing, testimony was presented, and the court finds that on or about September 15, 1982, at about 4:00 a.m. the defendant left a discotheque known as “The Native New Yorker”. Outside, he met Kenneth Bass and John Bass, who were parked in their vehicle and, at their invitation, entered the car with the intent of going to the White Castle for hamburgers. Just before reaching their destination, the vehicle was pulled over by a police officer [523]*523and everyone was ordered out of the car. Kenneth Bass was arrested and handcuffed and both the defendant and John Bass were searched. Subsequently, the vehicle itself was searched. A small amount of cocaine was found under the seat where defendant had been sitting in the rear of the vehicle and other controlled substances were found in the trunk of the vehicle. Neither John nor Kenneth Bass are before the court at this time.

The defendant contends that the stop was made without probable cause and that the search was in violation of his constitutional rights. He contends that he had a right to privacy in the vehicle where he was a passenger and particularly the area under that seat which he himself occupied. He further contends that he' has standing to question both the search and the stop. He argues that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle, primarily because of the provisions of section 220.25 of the Penal Law, which provide that the presence of a controlled substance in an automobile is presumptive evidence of knowing possession by each person in that vehicle. He states that there is an inconsistency in permitting the prosecution to prove a possessory crime by a presumption and at the same time take the position that the defendant has no standing to question the search.

In Rakas v Illinois (439 US 128), the court in part addressed a similar situation and found that merely because the defendants in that case were in the car (at p 148) “with the permission of its owner is not determinative of whether they had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the particular areas of the automobile searched.” The court held (p 134), “A person who is aggrieved by an illegal search and seizure only through the introduction of damaging evidence secured by a search of a third person’s premises or property has not had any of his Fourth Amendment rights infringed.” The defendants in that case asserted neither a property nor a possessory interest in the automobile or in the property seized, and the fact that they were legitimately on the premises, that is, with the permission of the owner, was held not determinative of whether they had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the particular areas of the automobile searched. Nor was there [524]*524a showing that they had any legitimate expectation of privacy in the area under the seat of the car in which they were merely passengers, or in the trunk of that vehicle.

One thrust of the defendant’s argument, in this case, is that the law is inconsistent if it provides that there is a presumption that he owned the property seized and at the same time he has no standing to question the search which resulted in discovering that property. In United States v Salvucci (supra), the court reasoned that the original “automatic standing” rule was adopted to. prevent both the risk that self incrimination would attach to the assertion of Fourth Amendment rights and prevent prosecutorial self-contradiction. The court then further reasoned that the automatic standing had been affected by time since testimony given by a defendant in support of a motion to suppress cannot be admitted as evidence of his guilt at trial, citing Simmons v United States (390 US 377). In addition, that court found that a prosecutor may with legal consistency and legitimacy assert that a defendant charged with possession of a seized item did not have a privacy interest violated in the course of the search and seizure and found that it was clearly established in Rakas v Illinois (supra), that a prosecutor may simultaneously maintain that a defendant criminally possessed the seized goods, but was not subject to a Fourth Amendment deprivation, without legal contradiction.

It is not merely the right of ownership or possession which determines a person’s Fourth Amendment privileges and the court went on to say (United States v Salvucci, supra, p 91) “While property ownership is clearly a factor to be considered in determining whether an individual’s Fourth Amendment rights have been violated * * * property rights are neither the beginning nor the end of this Court’s inquiry.” The court reasoned that an illegal search violates the rights of those that have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the invaded place and that merely the possession of the seized goods is not sufficient for the owner to have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched. In People v Belton (55 NY2d 49), the court found (at p 53) that there “is the reduced expectation of privacy associated with automobiles and the inherent mobility of such vehicles”.

[525]*525“Under Rakas, a passenger will virtually never have standing to challenge a search of a vehicle, absent a claim of ownership of the articles seized * * * ‘a distinction also properly may be made in some circumstances between the Fourth Amendment rights of passengers and the rights of an individual who has exclusive control of an automobile or its locked compartments.’ Standing will also most likely be granted for other categories of passengers who can demonstrate use of a vehicle on a regular basis — for instance, employees of the automobile owner or regular participants in a car pool, as well as the owner’s family members.” (1 Ringel, Searches & Seizures, Arrests and Confessions, § 11.7, pp 11-31 — 11-32.) This defendant has not made any showing that he had a right to use the automobile on a regular basis nor has he demonstrated any basis for finding he had any legitimate expectation of privacy. He was merely a passenger invited for a ride.

The defendant, in this case, argues that because there is a presumption of possession he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the vehicle, but in People v Leyva (38 NY2d 160), the court determined that the presumption provided for in the Penal Law does not shift the burden of proof and the People still have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of the defendant. After hearing all of the evidence, including the presumption, the jury must still evaluate the presumption, which may be rebutted by the defendant or by the lack of credibility of the People’s witnesses. The failure to instruct the jury that the presumption may be disregarded is reversible error (People v Williams, 95 AD2d 866).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Catalano
134 Misc. 2d 621 (New York Supreme Court, 1987)
People v. Mejia
133 Misc. 2d 755 (New York Supreme Court, 1986)
People v. Millan
118 A.D.2d 236 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1986)
People v. Ocampo
129 Misc. 2d 217 (New York Supreme Court, 1985)
People v. Castro
125 Misc. 2d 15 (New York Supreme Court, 1984)
People v. Paone
103 A.D.2d 1012 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1984)
State v. Eis
348 N.W.2d 224 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 Misc. 2d 522, 468 N.Y.S.2d 309, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3954, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-green-nydistctnassau-1983.