People v. Chrisostome

• Decision Date: 05 December 2018
• Docket Number: 2016–00293,Ind. 4704/14
• Citation: 86 N.Y.S.3d 903 (Mem),167 A.D.3d 644
• Parties: The PEOPLE, etc., respondent, v. Stephens CHRISOSTOME, appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

167 A.D.3d 644
86 N.Y.S.3d 903 (Mem)

The PEOPLE, etc., respondent,
v.
Stephens CHRISOSTOME, appellant.

2016–00293
Ind. 4704/14

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Argued—June 19, 2018
December 5, 2018

Paul Skip Laisure, New York, N.Y. (Alice R.B. Cullina of counsel), for appellant.

Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Howard B. Goodman, and Michael L. Brenner of counsel), for respondent.

LEONARD B. AUSTIN, J.P., SHERI S. ROMAN, COLLEEN D. DUFFY, LINDA CHRISTOPHER, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in permitting the People to offer evidence of a telephone call the defendant made while in pretrial detention at Rikers Island Correctional Facility, as the probative value of the defendant's admission to his involvement in the incident outweighed its prejudicial effect (see People v. Franks, 137 A.D.3d 936, 937, 28 N.Y.S.3d 72 ; People v. Moore, 118 A.D.3d 916, 918, 988 N.Y.S.2d 80 ; People v. Case, 113 A.D.3d 872, 872–873, 979 N.Y.S.2d 383 ). The court's ruling did not violate the defendant's constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable searches, to due process, and to equal protection. Contrary to the defendant's argument, he impliedly consented to the monitoring and recording of his telephone conversations by using the telephones despite being notified in several different ways that such calls were being monitored (see People v. Diaz, 149 A.D.3d 974, 975, 53 N.Y.S.3d 94 ; People v. Koonce, 111 A.D.3d 1277, 1279, 974 N.Y.S.2d 207 ). The defendant's contention that any consent he gave was involuntary is unpreserved for appellate review (see People v. Abraham, 111 A.D.3d 756, 757, 974 N.Y.S.2d 539 ; People v. Boucher, 97 A.D.3d 597, 598, 947 N.Y.S.2d 340 ) and, in any event, without merit (see People v. Cisse, 149 A.D.3d 435, 436, 53 N.Y.S.3d 614, lv granted 29 N.Y.3d 1124, 64 N.Y.S.3d 674, 86 N.E.3d 566 ).

The Supreme Court properly denied the defendant's pretrial request to listen to recordings of other telephone calls he made from Rikers Island. Under the circumstances of this...