People v. Howard (Gerald)

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: September 15, 2017
• Docket: 2017 NYSlipOp 51162(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

Gerald Howard, Defendant-Appellant.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Alexander M. Tisch, J.), rendered July 26, 2014, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment of conviction (Alexander M. Tisch, J.), rendered July 26, 2014, affirmed.

The accusatory instrument was not jurisdictionally defective. It charged all the elements of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree (see Penal Law § 220.03), and set forth sufficient factual allegations to show the basis for the arresting officer's conclusion that the substance at issue was a controlled substance. The instrument recited that police "recovered crack/cocaine residue" and "one loose rock of crack/cocaine" from the vehicle defendant entered, and that the officer believed the substance to be crack/cocaine "based upon [his] professional training as a police officer in the identification of drugs, [his] prior experience as a police officer making drug arrests, and an observation of the packaging, which is characteristic of this type of drug" (see People v Smalls, 26 NY3d 1064 [2015]; People v Kalin, 12 NY3d 225, 231-232 [2009]; People v Pearson, 78 AD3d 445 [2010], lv denied 16 NY3d 799 [2011]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
I concurI concur I concur
Decision Date: September 15, 2017