People v. Huff

133 A.D.3d 1223, 19 N.Y.S.3d 378
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided November 13, 2015·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Erie County (Russell P. Buscaglia, A.J.), rendered January 3, 2014. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of murder in the second degree.

It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him following a jury trial of murder in the second degree (Penal Law § 125.25 [1]), defendant contends that Supreme Court erred in denying his motion to suppress physical evidence seized from the attic of the home where he resided with his grandmother. We reject that contention. Following a hearing, the court credited the testimony of a detective that the grandmother had voluntarily consented to the search. Although the detective was unable to obtain a written consent to the search, “[i]t is well settled that consent can be established by conduct” (People v Sinzheimer, 15 AD3d 732, 734 [2005], lv denied 5 NY3d 794 [2005]). According to the detective who [1224] testified at the hearing, the grandmother, who had a master’s degree, was pleasant and cooperative, she let the detectives into the house, and she led them directly to the attic and unlocked the door to the attic for them. Only after the inculpatory evidence was found did the grandmother become aggravated and refuse to sign the consent form. Although the grandmother testified that she let the detectives into her home only after they told her they had a search warrant, the testifying detective denied telling the grandmother that they had a search warrant.

The court credited the testimony of the detective, and “ ‘[i]t is well settled that [t]he suppression court’s credibility determinations . . . are granted deference and will not be disturbed unless unsupported by the record’ ” (People v May, 100 AD3d 1411, 1412 [2012], lv denied 20 NY3d 1063 [2013]). Crediting such testimony, we conclude that the People met their burden of establishing “ ‘that the consent was in fact voluntarily given, and not the result of duress or coercion, express or implied’ by the actions of the law enforcement authorities” (People v Quagliata, 53 AD3d 670, 671 [2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 834 [2008], quoting Schneckloth v Bustamonte, 412 US 218, 248 [1973]). The grandmother manifested her consent to the search by her willingness to cooperate and her conduct in leading the officers to the attic and unlocking the door thereto (see People v McCray, 96 AD3d 1480, 1481 [2012], lv denied 19 NY3d 1104 [2012]; People v Allah, 54 AD3d 632, 632 [2008], lv denied 12 NY3d 755 [2009]; Quagliata, 53 AD3d at 672; cf. People v McFadden, 179 AD2d 1003, 1004 [1992], appeal dismissed 79 NY2d 996 [1992]).

Defendant further contends that the court erred in refusing to suppress his statements to the police. At the suppression hearing, a detective testified that defendant was read and waived his Miranda rights before the initial interview. Although the actual card could not be located and thus was not presented at the hearing, the court credited the detective’s unrebutted testimony, and such a credibility determination is entitled to great deference (see People v Prochilo, 41 NY2d 759, 761 [1977]). “[T]he warnings given by this experienced [detective] were adequate and fully conveyed to defendant his rights. No more is required” (People v Vega, 225 AD2d 890, 891 [1996], lv denied 88 NY2d 943 [1996]).

We reject defendant’s contention that his statements were not voluntarily given because he was 17 years old at the time of the interview, allegedly suffered from a learning disability and was unaccompanied by his grandmother to the interview. [1225] “A court generally must look to the totality of the circumstances to determine the voluntariness of an inculpatory statement . . . ‘The factors to be examined in determining the totality of the circumstances surrounding a defendant’s confession include the duration and conditions of detention, the attitude of the police toward the defendant, and the age, physical state, and mental state of the defendant’ ” (People v Brown, 113 AD3d 785, 785 [2014], lv denied 23 NY3d 1018 [2014]; see People v Kemp, 266 AD2d 887, 888 [1999], lv denied 94 NY2d 921 [2000]). In this case, defendant “was legally an adult. . .Thus, there was no requirement that defendant’s [guardian] be present during the police questioning” (People v Lewis, 277 AD2d 1010, 1011 [2000], lv denied 96 NY2d 736 [2001]). Moreover, there was no evidence that defendant was isolated from his grandmother as a result of “official deception or trickery” (People v Salaam, 83 NY2d 51, 55 [1993]). Although defendant contends that he suffered from a learning disability, the grandmother testified at the hearing that defendant was able to complete age-appropriate school work. We thus conclude that “there is insufficient evidence in the record to support [defendant’s] assertion that [he] had [a learning disability] or subnormal intelligence and, therefore, could not knowingly or intelligently waive his rights” (People v Herr, 203 AD2d 927, 928 [1994], affd 86 NY2d 638 [1995]).

Defendant also challenges the voluntariness of the statement based on the seven-hour interrogation that preceded his first statement. We conclude, however, that the duration of the interview did not render the resulting statement involuntary. Defendant was given breaks to use the bathroom and smoke cigarettes, and he was offered food and beverages (see People v Clyburn-Dawson, 128 AD3d 1350, 1351 [2015]; People v Figueroa-Norse, 120 AD3d 913, 914 [2014], lv denied 25 NY3d 1071 [2015]; People v Collins, 106 AD3d 1544, 1545 [2013], lv denied 21 NY3d 1072 [2013]). We thus conclude “that the People proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant’s statements were voluntary” (Kemp, 266 AD2d at 888).

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

People v. Huff, 133 A.D.3d 1223, 19 N.Y.S.3d 378 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2015).

133 A.D.3d 1223 (People v. Huff) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

People v. Battle
2021 NY Slip Op 07419 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2021)
People v. Johnston
2021 NY Slip Op 01632 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2021)
CLARK, JAQUAN, PEOPLE v
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2016
People v. Clark
139 A.D.3d 1368 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2016)