People v. Brown

Decision Date29 June 1995
Citation655 N.E.2d 162,86 N.Y.2d 728,631 N.Y.S.2d 121
Parties, 655 N.E.2d 162 The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Arthur BROWN, Appellant.
CourtNew York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
OPINION OF THE COURT MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be modified by remitting the case to Supreme Court, New York County, for a Wade hearing and, as so modified, affirmed. If it is determined at the Wade hearing that police suggestiveness tainted the showup identification procedure, defendant is entitled to a new trial. If the People prevail at the Wade hearing, the judgment of conviction and sentence should be amended to reflect that result.

Defendant, handcuffed and surrounded by police officers in a stairwell after he was apprehended, was identified by a robbery victim as the assailant. The victim was robbed of jewelry, allegedly at gunpoint, several blocks away in the elevator of the building in which he resided. The victim and his sister informed police officers stationed nearby of this incident and accompanied the officers in their marked police car as they canvassed the adjacent block for the perpetrator. The victim pointed out the person he thought was the robber, and upon the approach by the police in the marked car, the suspected robber ran off. One of the officers pursued that person, who was wearing a brown sheepskin jacket and black baseball hat, on foot and followed him into an apartment building. By this time, a backup team of officers had arrived on the scene, and fanned out to search the building. The jacket and hat were recovered in a hallway on the third floor. The individual was apprehended in the stairwell, and was presented to the victim on the ground floor landing of the stairwell. Following identification by the victim, defendant was arrested. Neither a gun nor the stolen jewelry was recovered.

The trial court improperly concluded without a Wade hearing that the victim's identification of defendant was free of police suggestion (see, People v. Dixon, 85 N.Y.2d 218, 224, 623 N.Y.S.2d 813, 647 N.E.2d 1321). Although the victim initiated the police chase once he pointed out his alleged assailant, the resultant showup does not fit into the category of...

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    ... ... officers involved in petitioners' arrests, who may be subject to civil liability for the arrests and prosecutions, and the interests of the people of the county. The New York City Criminal Court in New York County (Mitchell, J.) determined that the delegation was lawful and did not entail an ... ...
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    • United States
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  • People v. Wheeler
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
    • January 26, 2022
    ...should have been suppressed (see People v. Marshall, 26 N.Y.3d 495, 506, 25 N.Y.S.3d 58, 45 N.E.3d 954 ; People v. Brown , 86 N.Y.2d 728, 631 N.Y.S.2d 121, 655 N.E.2d 162 ; People v. Thornton , 236 A.D.2d 430, 654 N.Y.S.2d 323 ). Accordingly, the defendant is entitled to a new trial on the ......
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1 books & journal articles
  • A. Notice
    • United States
    • New York State Bar Association Practical Skills: Criminal Law & Practice (NY) VIII Motion To Suppress Evidence of An Identification
    • Invalid date
    ...708, 481 N.Y.S.2d 148 (2d Dep't 1984). [313] See People v. Dixon, 85 N.Y.2d 218, 623 N.Y.S.2d 813 (1995); see also People v. Brown, 86 N.Y.2d 728, 631 N.Y.S.2d 121 (1995). [314] People v. Gissendanner, 48 N.Y.2d 543, 423 N.Y.S.2d 893 (1979); People v. Morales, 37 N.Y.2d 262, 372 N.Y.S.2d 25......

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