People v. Werner

55 A.D.2d 317, 390 N.Y.S.2d 711, 1977 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9976
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJanuary 14, 1977
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 55 A.D.2d 317 (People v. Werner) 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. Werner, 55 A.D.2d 317, 390 N.Y.S.2d 711, 1977 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9976 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Goldman, J.

Appellant was convicted upon narcotic sale, possession and conspiracy charges arising from a sale to Officer John Brennan, an undercover narcotic investigator. Trial testimony indicated that the drugs were sold to Brennan by one Arthur Risteff in an apartment which Risteff shared with one Marlene Cirbus. Brennan, who had a radio transmitter concealed on his person during the transaction, paid for the drugs with marked bills. Brennan did not see appellant in the apartment during the sale. A few moments after Brennan left the apartment with the drugs, Risteff and appellant were accosted on a common stairway of the apartment building by Officer Tardío, who brought them back upstairs to the apartment where the sale had occurred. Brennan shortly returned to the apartment, where appellant was then searched and $450 in marked bills were found on his person. Appellant’s motion to suppress the marked bills was denied. At trial, Risteff was called by the prosecution. He testified that he obtained the drugs which he sold to Officer Brennan from appellant, that appellant was hiding in a nearby closet during the sale, in case of a "rip-off” and that after Brennan left, appellant emerged from the closet and received $450 of the proceeds of the sale from Risteff, as per a prior agreement. Marlene Cirbus was also called by the prosecution. She testified, inter alia, that she heard appellant discussing the sale with Risteff and that appellant hid in the closet while the sale was taking place.

Appellant first contends that the search of his person was without probable cause and not incident to a lawful arrest, so that the denial of the motion to suppress the marked bills was error. Respondent counters that the affidavit in support of the motion did not raise the issue of the legality of the arrest, so that appellant is precluded from raising that claim on appeal. We disagree. Although the affidavit is inartfully drafted, by a fair reading it does place in controversy the legality of the arrest. We therefore conclude that the question whether the search was incident to a lawful arrest is properly before us. [319]*319However, meaningful review on this point is rendered impossible by County Court’s failure to dispose of the motion in accordance with the procedures prescribed in CPL 710.60. Subdivision 3 of that section provides, in part, as follows: "The court may summarily deny the motion if: (a) The motion papers do not allege a ground constituting legal basis for the motion; or (b) The sworn allegations of fact do not as a matter of law support the ground alleged”. Here the papers do allege one of the statutory grounds for suppression (see CPL 710.20, subd 1), and the affidavit raises questions sufficient to avoid summary denial (cf. People v Williams, 46 AD2d 727). If the court does not summarily grant the suppression motion pursuant to subdivision 2 or summarily deny it pursuant to subdivision 3, then "it must conduct a hearing” (710.60, subd 4). It appears, however, that County Court followed none of the alternative courses prescribed by the statute. No hearing was held, but from a reading of County Court’s memorandum decision on the suppression motion, it is plain that facts dehors the affidavits were considered. We are informed by respondent’s brief that the court "made its own inquiry * * * and, having amassed considerable factual information from the Grand Jury minutes and preliminary hearing minutes, found no basis for suppression”. The fault with this practice is that the facts were taken from records in proceedings where the suppression issues were not the focus of the inquiry (see CPL 180.60, 180.70, 190.65). Moreover, at least in the case of a Grand Jury proceeding, the accused’s right to adduce evidence is so limited (see CPL 190.50) that he is in no position to subject critical facts to thorough adversarial scrutiny. In People v Del Giorno (19 AD2d 849), this court disapproved the practice of "informally” resolving fact issues and deciding suppression motions by resort to the Grand Jury minutes. Nor is the failure to hold a proper suppression hearing rendered harmless by the fact that here, unlike Del Giorno, we have the benefit of a trial record. It cannot be assumed that all facts pertinent to the suppression motion were fully developed at the trial, since by the time of trial the suppression motion had already been denied. More importantly, because the issue of the legality of the seizure was not submitted to the jury, it cannot be inferred from the verdict that all factual disputes and questions of witness credibility were resolved in favor of the legality of the seizure. On this record there are a number of disputed questions of fact which, though not necessarily resolved by the jury, could have assumed critical importance [320]*320on a suppression hearing. Among them are the following: whether appellant voluntarily accompanied Officer Tardío upstairs to the apartment or whether he was forced at gun point; whether Officer Brennan’s radio transmitter was functioning, so that Tardío could have learned thereby that the apartment where the sale took place was on the third floor; whether Risteff and appellant were walking or running down the stairs when Tardío stopped them; whether the door to the apartment was open or closed when Tardío stopped them on the stairs. In short, appellant has never yet had a full opportunity to explore facts pertinent to the legality of the search and seizure of his person. Accordingly, we conclude that the matter should be remitted for a proper hearing and determination of the suppression motion.

The record also reveals an error in a charge to the jury under the accomplice testimony corroboration statute (CPL 60.22), which requires reversal of the conviction. Over the exception of the defense, County Court charged the jury as a matter of law that Marlene Cirbus was not an accomplice, so that "her testimony does not need any corroboration”. In so charging, the court relied on People v Beaudet (32 NY2d 371). There the Court of Appeals, interpreting section 399 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which was the predecessor of the present accomplice testimony statute, restated the "judicially elaborated” test, which was "whether an alleged accomplice was so connected with the crime that he could have been convicted as a principal or as an accessory before the fact” (p 374). However, with the enactment of CPL 60.22 (subd 2), [eff Sept. 1, 1971], the foregoing common-law test was supplanted by the following statutory definition: "An 'accomplice’ means a witness in a criminal action who, according to evidence adduced in such action, may reasonbly be considered to have participated in: (a) The offense charged; or (b) An offense based upon the same or some of the same facts or conduct which constitute the offense charged”. The statute broadens the common-law definition of an accomplice " 'in order to provide a more equitable, operable and consistent standard for the courts in determining when the requirement of corroboration is applicable’ ” (People v Basch, 36 NY2d 154, 157, quoting Denzer, Practice Commentary, McKinney’s Cons Laws of NY, Book 11 A, CPL 60.22, p 195; accord, People v McAuliffe, 36 NY2d 820, 822 and People v Brooks, 34 NY2d 475, 477) and to implement more logically " 'the purpose of the "accomplice” [321]*321doctrine: namely, preclusion of conviction solely upon the testimony of persons who are in some way criminally implicated in, and possibly subject to, prosecution for the general conduct or factual transaction on trial’ ” (People v Fielding, 39 NY2d 607, 610, quoting Denzer, op cit, pp 194-195 [emphasis in original]).

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Bluebook (online)
55 A.D.2d 317, 390 N.Y.S.2d 711, 1977 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-werner-nyappdiv-1977.