People v. Williams

243 A.D.2d 833, 664 N.Y.S.2d 835, 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10129
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided October 16, 1997·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

Cardona, P. J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Schenectady County (Eidens, J.), rendered March 8, 1996, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal use of a firearm in the first degree.

On May 12, 1995, at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the City of Schenectady, Schenectady County, Gary Richards was shot as he drove away from the scene of a cocaine purchase. Defendant was charged in a six-count indictment with attempted murder in the second degree, three counts of assault in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal use of a firearm in the first degree. Following denial of his suppression motions, defendant was tried before a jury and convicted of attempted murder in the second degree, one count of assault in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal use of a firearm in the first degree. He was sentenced to concurrent indeterminate terms of imprisonment totaling 8Vs to 25 years. Defendant appeals.

Initially, defendant contends that his oral statement to the police was the product of an illegal seizure. The relevant facts pertaining to defendant’s encounter with the police are drawn from the suppression hearing. During the evening hours of May 12, 1995 Schenectady Police Investigator Robert McHugh interviewed Terrence Thomas, a witness to the shooting. He learned that Thomas was an acquaintance of defendant and had been with him that day. McHugh also learned that Thomas lived in the vicinity of the shooting at 1325 Fourth Avenue. [834] Valerie Cherny, another witness, gave McHugh a physical description of the shooter as a black male in his late teens to mid-20s, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build who wore his hair in little pieces that were twisted or curled. Working with Cherny, McHugh created a composite picture of the perpetrator which was finished around 1:00 a.m. on May 13, 1995. McHugh also spoke with Thomas’ mother, Delaine Jones, who witnessed the shooting; after viewing the composite, Jones indicated that it looked like the shooter. From the witnesses, McHugh learned the first name of the shooter to be John.

On the morning of May 13, 1995, Schenectady Police Officers Nicola Messere and John Borowski were assigned to assist the detectives investigating the shooting. At morning lineup, they were told that a nine-millimeter semiautomatic handgun had been used and was still on the street, that Thomas and his mother had witnessed the shooting, and that the suspect, whose first name might be John, was known to be at the Thomas home at 1325 Fourth Avenue. They also had the description of the suspect as well as his composite picture.

Messere knew Thomas from the street and was aware that the investigators wanted to speak to him again. At approximately 11:30 a.m. Messere saw Thomas, Cecil Tucker and another black male, who he did not know, in front of 1325 Fourth Avenue about to enter Tucker’s car. Messere pulled in front of Tucker’s car so that it could not leave. While Messere exited his car, Borowski radioed the investigators. Messere approached the three men with his hand on his gun. He told them to put their hands on the car and they complied. Messere told the men that he was going to pat them down because they were investigating a shooting and the investigators wanted to talk to Thomas. Messere’s pat down of their outer clothing revealed no gun. The investigators arrived at the scene about a minute later along with other patrol cars. Messere observed that the unknown male fit the composite picture and description of the suspect except that his hair was closely cropped. He asked defendant his name. Defendant responded “Harold Gris-wold” and, without request, gave Messere his date of birth. The National Crime Information Center check for a Harold Griswold using the birthdate provided came back negative. The investigators sent everyone on their way and left. At no time was defendant restrained, handcuffed, placed inside the police car or threatened. The entire stop lasted no more than 15 minutes.

During the investigation it was learned that the shooter could have come from the Spring Valley area in Rockland [835] County. McHugh called the Spring Valley Village Police Department and asked about a “Harold Griswold”. A computer check by that department revealed that a Harold Griswold was an alias used by Jonathan Williams. McHugh obtained a photo of Williams and included it in a photo array shown to Cherny and Richards. Cherny identified defendant as the shooter. Richards identified defendant as the person who sold him cocaine. An arrest warrant was issued and defendant was apprehended.

We reject defendant’s contention that the police-initiated encounter in this case constituted a seizure and find instead that the officers’ conduct never exceeded the level of a request for information. In doing so, “we * * * consider first whether or not the police action was justified in its inception and secondly whether or not that action was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which rendered its initiation permissible” (People v De Bour, 40 NY2d 210, 215). Here, Messere and the investigators had an “articulable reason not necessarily related to criminality for making the approach” to the group (People v Hollman, 79 NY2d 181, 190). They wished to speak to a witness who was previously interviewed. Thus, they were not acting “on whim or caprice” (id., at 190). Although it might appear that Messere’s actions in blocking Tucker’s automobile, approaching the group with his hand on his gun and directing them to submit to a pat down were far too intrusive to be labeled a request for information, it must be remembered that the police were investigating a grave crime, an attempted murder, which had occurred only hours earlier in the same vicinity, perpetrated by a suspect armed with a semiautomatic handgun who was known to have been in Thomas’ company. Thus, we find that the intensity and manner of the officers’ interference with defendant was reasonably related to the circumstances attending the encounter.

Furthermore, in our view, the pivotal factor which prevented the encounter from escalating beyond a request for information was the absence of any questioning which could have led defendant “reasonably to believe that he * * * [was] suspected of some wrongdoing and [was] the focus of the officer’s investigation” (id., at 185). That was clearly not the situation here, for defendant was only asked his name. He was not even asked for identification to prove his identity (cf., People v De Bour, supra, at 219). Although the length of the detention lasted some 15 minutes, we note that defendant and the others were sent on their way as soon as the computer check came back negative (compare, People v Banks, 85 NY2d 558, cert denied 516 US 868). Accordingly, we find that County Court properly denied defendant’s motion to suppress his oral statements.

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People v. Williams, 243 A.D.2d 833, 664 N.Y.S.2d 835, 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10129 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1997).

243 A.D.2d 833 (People v. Williams) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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