People v. Shoga

89 A.D.3d 1225, 933 N.Y.2d 126
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedNovember 10, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 89 A.D.3d 1225 (People v. Shoga) 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. Shoga, 89 A.D.3d 1225, 933 N.Y.2d 126 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Garry, J.

In 2008, the Broome County Sheriffs Office received information from a confidential informant (hereinafter Cl) indicating, among other things, that defendant would be returning from New York City, where he had allegedly purchased cocaine for resale. Officers obtained a search warrant permitting the search of defendant’s person, any car in which he was traveling, and an apartment in the City of Binghamton, Broome County where he allegedly resided. Shortly thereafter, officers pulled over a vehicle driven by defendant to execute the warrant. No contraband was found in the vehicle or on defendant’s person. Defendant was taken to the Sheriffs Office and placed in an interview room, where certain belongings that had been found in the search of his person — including a key — were placed on a table. After advising defendant that the apartment was about to be searched, officers left him alone in the interview room for a few minutes. When they returned, the key had disappeared, and defendant was coughing, pounding his chest, and requesting a drink of water. Upon searching the apartment, officers found cocaine and a loaded gun that had its serial number removed. Nine days later, a correction officer found a key on the sink in defendant’s cell at the Broome County Correctional Facility. Investigators determined that this key fit the lock from the apartment door.

Defendant was indicted on charges of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (two counts), criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fifth degrees, and tampering [1226]*1226with physical evidence. At a preliminary hearing, defendant denied under oath that he was carrying a key to the apartment when he was pulled over. He was then indicted for perjury in the first degree, and County Court granted the People’s motion to consolidate the indictments.

Defendant was convicted of all charges following a nonjury trial, except for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. County Court sentenced him as a second felony offender to an aggregate prison term of eight years and five years of postrelease supervision for all of the convictions except the peijury charge, upon which he was sentenced to 2 to 4 years, to run consecutively to the other sentences. Defendant appeals.

Defendant first contends that critical proof is lacking as to all of his convictions because physical evidence consisting of the key and certain photographs of the gun should not have been admitted at trial. He asserts that the key was inadmissible because of a gap in the chain of custody consisting of a cut in the evidence bag that contained it as well as inconsistent testimony as to its color. We disagree. Where, as here, “an object possesses unique characteristics or markings and is not subject to material alteration which is not readily apparent, a simple identification is sufficient to warrant admission” even when a chain of custody is not fully established (People v Julian, 41 NY2d 340, 343 [1977] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; accord People v Roblee, 83 AD3d 1126, 1127 [2011], lv denied 17 NY3d 809 [2011]). The key was first secured as an item of evidence by the correction officer who found it in defendant’s cell. At trial, he identified the key as the same one he had found based on its color and markings, and he testified that it was in the same condition as when he found it. A detective explained the cut in the evidence bag by testifying that he made the cut to remove the key from the bag in order to test it in the apartment lock, and then replaced it in the bag and sealed the cut with tape. He realized only at trial that he had forgotten to initial the seal. In light of the testimony, the key was properly admitted based on “reasonable assurances of [its] identity and unchanged condition” (People v Julian, 41 NY2d at 343 [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]). The discrepancies in the witness testimony describing the key go to the weight of this evidence rather than its admissibility (see People v Welch, 71 AD3d 1329,1331 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 811 [2010]; People v Wynn, 176 AD2d 375, 377 [1991]).

Defendant also contends that photographs of the gun should not have been admitted, because they were taken after a deputy removed the gun from the dresser drawer and then replaced it [1227]*1227to be photographed. However, the deputy testified that the only change he made in the gun’s condition during the removal was to render it safe by removing the magazine and bullets, and that the gun was otherwise in the same condition and location in which it was found when the photographs were taken. Given this explanation, the People’s photographs were not introduced to falsify the conditions under which the gun was found or otherwise mislead the factfinder, and the change in the gun’s condition also went to the issue of weight rather than admissibility (see People v Gerber, 182 AD2d 252, 263-264 [1992], lv denied 80 NY2d 1026 [1992]; compare People v Davis, 10 AD3d 583, 583 [2004], lv denied 4 NY3d 743 [2004]).

Defendant next challenges the sufficiency and weight of the evidence supporting his convictions for criminal possession of weapons and controlled substances, arguing that the People failed to show constructive possession of the weapon and cocaine by demonstrating that he “had dominion and control over the area where the contraband was found” (People v Edwards, 39 AD3d 1078, 1079 [2007]; see Penal Law § 10.00 [8]; § 220.06 [5]; § 265.02 [1], [3]; § 265.03 [1] [b]; People v Paige, 77 AD3d 1193, 1196 [2010], affd 16 NY3d 816 [2011]). The apartment’s lessee testified that she permitted defendant to use the apartment and keep belongings there, although his name was not on the lease and he did not pay rent. She testified that she gave him a key to the apartment so that he could come and go when she was not at home, and that he visited the apartment several times a week, spent the night there at times, and kept his belongings in various locations in the apartment, including a certain drawer in a bedroom dresser. She had emptied the drawer before allowing defendant to use it and had never seen the weapon or drugs in the apartment. Although her former boyfriend and two other people had briefly stayed in the apartment, she testified that they had departed before defendant arrived. The officers who searched the apartment testified that they found the gun and cocaine in the same drawer that the lessee had identified as defendant’s, and that this drawer also contained male clothing and mail addressed to defendant, including an envelope directed to him at the apartment’s street address. Viewed in the light most favorable to the People, this evidence was legally sufficient to establish that he had dominion and control over the area where the contraband was found (see People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]; People v Robinson, 72 AD3d 1277, 1277-1278 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 809 [2010]; People v Sawyer, 23 AD3d 845, 846 [2005], lv denied 6 NY3d 852 [2006]; compare People v Oldacre, 53 AD3d 675, 678-679 [2008]). Further, contrary to defendant’s claim, evidence that he possessed a loaded firearm, [1228]*1228together with the statutory presumption of intent arising from such possession, was legally sufficient to establish his intent to use the gun against another for purposes of his conviction for criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (see

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
89 A.D.3d 1225, 933 N.Y.2d 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-shoga-nyappdiv-2011.