People v. Young

106 A.D.3d 578, 964 N.Y.S.2d 540

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.), rendered April 26, 2011, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of 1 to 3 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant’s suppression motion. Defendant’s arrest, which led to the recovery of a gravity knife in his possession, was supported by probable cause (see People v McRay, 51 NY2d 594, 602-604 [1980]). Defendant was arrested based on an experienced officer’s observation of a transaction in which defendant gave money to another individual in exchange for a small plastic bag containing a brown substance that the officer believed to be marijuana. We reject defendant’s assertion that the officer was insufficiently experienced to recognize, as a drug transaction, the events he observed. Moreover, as in People v Graham (211 AD2d 55, 60 [1995], lv denied 86 NY2d 795 [1995]), even without police training, “any person observing defendant . . . using good common sense” would have concluded that he had purchased drugs.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur— Tom, J.E, Acosta, Renwick, DeGrasse and Richter, JJ.