People v. Samuel

137 A.D.3d 1691, 28 N.Y.S.3d 526

This text of 137 A.D.3d 1691 (People v. Samuel) 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. Samuel, 137 A.D.3d 1691, 28 N.Y.S.3d 526 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

[1692]*1692Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Thomas E. Moran, J.), rendered July 2, 2012. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of robbery in the first degree (two counts), robbery in the second degree (two counts), kidnapping in the second degree, assault in the second degree (two counts) and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (two counts).

It is hereby ordered that the case is held, the decision is reserved and the matter is remitted to Supreme Court, Monroe County, for a suppression hearing.

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of, inter alia, kidnapping in the second degree (Penal Law § 135.20) and two counts of robbery in the first degree (§ 160.15 [2], [4]), arising from an incident occurring in a two-unit apartment building in the City of Rochester. In response to a 911 call, Rochester police officers responded to the building and found a man bound at the wrists and bleeding from several wounds. The man reported that he had been attacked by several people, some of whom were still in the building. The officers surrounded the building and apprehended defendant and others as they left the building. The officers then performed what they described as a security sweep of the building, during which they noted, inter alia, the presence of masks, guns, and other apparent items of evidence. The officers then withdrew and obtained a search warrant for the building, which resulted in the seizure of numerous objects that were introduced in evidence at defendant’s trial.

Defendant submitted omnibus motions seeking, among other relief, suppression of the evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant. He also made several requests for the warrant application, all of which were denied by the prosecution, and he made several motions or requests for an order directing the prosecution to turn over that application, which were denied by County Court (Piampiano, J.). After an in camera review of the search warrant application, County Court also denied, without a hearing, defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant. During the trial before Supreme Court (Moran, J.), when the prosecution sought to introduce evidence seized during the execution of the search warrant, defendant orally moved to suppress the items seized pursuant to the warrant, contending for the first time that the warrant was improperly issued because it was based on evidence that was obtained during the earlier warrantless [1693]*1693search, which defendant contended was conducted in violation of Payton v New York (445 US 573 [1980]) and its progeny. Based on the trial testimony regarding the conduct of the prewarrant security sweep, Supreme Court concluded, sua sponte, that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless search and denied the motion without a hearing.

Defendant contends on appeal that, inter alia, County Court and Supreme Court erred in refusing to suppress the evidence seized during the execution of the warrant because it was the fruit of the prior unconstitutional search of his home. We conclude that Supreme Court erred in denying, without a hearing, defendant’s midtrial suppression motion.

Initially, defendant contends that County Court erred in refusing to suppress the fruits of the search warrant without conducting a hearing. In his motion papers, defendant contended only that the warrant was not based on probable cause, without reference to any prior activity. It is well settled that a “challenge to the facial sufficiency of a written warrant application presents an issue of law that does not require a hearing, and the court properly determines the merits of such a challenge ‘by reviewing the affidavits alone in order to determine whether they establish probable cause’ ” for the search (People v Carlton, 26 AD3d 738, 738 [2006], quoting People v Dunn, 155 AD2d 75, 80 [1990], affd 77 NY2d 19 [1990], cert denied 501 US 1219 [1991]). Defendant failed to preserve for our review his present contention that County Court erred in upholding the warrant because it was based on evidence obtained during a prior unconstitutional search, “inasmuch as defendant failed to raise it either in his motion papers or before the suppression court” (People v Fuentes, 52 AD3d 1297, 1298 [2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 736 [2008]; see People v Facen, 117 AD3d 1463, 1463-1464 [2014], lv denied 23 NY3d 1020 [2014]). In any event, we conclude that the allegations in defendant’s moving papers did not contain sufficient allegations of fact to warrant a hearing on that contention (see People v Ferron, 248 AD2d 962, 963 [1998], lv denied 92 NY2d 879 [1998]; see generally People v Jones, 95 NY2d 721, 725 [2001]).

Defendant further contends that County Court erred in concluding that the officers were aware of the apartment building’s design before the security sweep. Defendant failed to preserve that contention for our review, inasmuch as he did not challenge the warrant in County Court on that ground (see People v Williams, 127 AD3d 612, 612 [2015]; People v Demus, 82 AD3d 1667, 1667-1668 [2011], lv denied 17 NY3d 815 [2011]). Furthermore, defendant did not join in a challenge to [1694]*1694the search warrant made by a codefendant’s attorney on that ground, and it is well settled that a “[d]efendant cannot rely on the request of a codefendant to preserve the claimed ... error” (People v Buckley, 75 NY2d 843, 846 [1990]; see People v Cabassa, 79 NY2d 722, 730 [1992], cert denied sub nom. Lind v New York, 506 US 1011 [1992]). We decline to exercise our power to review that contention as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice (see CPL 470.15 [6] [a]).

We agree with defendant, however, that Supreme Court erred in denying without a hearing his midtrial motion to suppress the fruits of the search warrant. Defendant’s motion was made shortly after the prosecution belatedly provided the search warrant application, which demonstrated that the police officers had searched the building before they obtained the search warrant and used the information gained in the initial search in their application for the warrant. It is well settled that police officers may not conduct an unconstitutional warrantless search and then use the fruits of that search to obtain a warrant (see e.g. People v Perez, 266 AD2d 242, 243 [1999], lv dismissed 94 NY2d 923 [2000]; see also People v Bartholomew, 132 AD3d 1279, 1281 [2015]). To the contrary, such a procedure “undermines the very purpose of the warrant requirement and cannot be tolerated” (People v Burr, 70 NY2d 354, 362 [1987], cert denied 485 US 989 [1988]; see People v Marinez, 121 AD3d 423, 424 [2014]).

Here, Supreme Court, based on its view of the trial testimony, concluded sua sponte that exigent circumstances justified the protective security sweep of the building, and thus summarily determined that the information gained by the officers during that search could properly be considered by the issuing magistrate in determining whether there was probable cause to issue the search warrant. That was error. As previously noted herein, defendant’s oral motion to suppress challenged the warrant on the ground that it was based on information that was obtained in violation of his constitutional rights under Payton v New York (445 US 573 [1980]).

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Related

Payton v. New York
445 U.S. 573 (Supreme Court, 1980)
People v. Mendoza
624 N.E.2d 1017 (New York Court of Appeals, 1993)
People v. Burton
848 N.E.2d 454 (New York Court of Appeals, 2006)
People v. Jones
746 N.E.2d 1053 (New York Court of Appeals, 2001)
People v. Scully
929 N.E.2d 364 (New York Court of Appeals, 2010)
People v. Dunn
564 N.E.2d 1054 (New York Court of Appeals, 1990)
People v. Chamlee
120 A.D.3d 417 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2014)
People v. Marinez
121 A.D.3d 423 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2014)
People v. Williams
127 A.D.3d 612 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2015)
People v. Burr
514 N.E.2d 1363 (New York Court of Appeals, 1987)
People v. Wesley
538 N.E.2d 76 (New York Court of Appeals, 1989)
People v. Buckley
552 N.E.2d 160 (New York Court of Appeals, 1990)
People v. Cabassa
79 N.Y.2d 722 (New York Court of Appeals, 1992)
People v. Carlton
26 A.D.3d 738 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2006)
People v. Fuentes
52 A.D.3d 1297 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2008)
People v. Demus
82 A.D.3d 1667 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2011)
People v. Dunn
155 A.D.2d 75 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1990)
People v. Facen
117 A.D.3d 1463 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2014)
People v. Ferron
248 A.D.2d 962 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1998)
People v. Sylvester
129 A.D.3d 1666 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
137 A.D.3d 1691, 28 N.Y.S.3d 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-samuel-nyappdiv-2016.