People v. Crawford

• Decision Date: 13 November 1995
• Citation: 633 N.Y.S.2d 556,221 A.D.2d 462
• Parties: The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. James CRAWFORD, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 556

633 N.Y.S.2d 556

221 A.D.2d 462

The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. James CRAWFORD, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Second Department.

Nov. 13, 1995.

Russell C. Morea, Kew Gardens, for appellant.

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens (Steven J. Chananie, Jeanette Lifschitz, and Felice A. Sontupe, of counsel), for respondent.

Before THOMPSON, J.P., and JOY, GOLDSTEIN and FLORIO, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeals by the defendant from (1) a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Thomas, J.), rendered July 1, 1993, convicting him of robbery in the first degree (two counts) and robbery in the second degree under Indictment No. 4773/92, upon a jury verdict, and (2) a judgment of the same court, rendered July 12, 1993, convicting him of robbery in the first degree (two counts) and robbery in the second degree (two counts) under Indictment No. 3817/92, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentences. The appeals bring up for review the denial of the branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence and identification testimony.

ORDERED that the judgments are affirmed.

It is well settled that a police officer may arrest a person without a warrant when he or she has probable cause to believe that such person has committed a crime, and probable cause may be supplied, in whole or in part, through hearsay information (see, People v. Johnson, 66 N.Y.2d 398, 497 N.Y.S.2d 618, 488 N.E.2d 439). However, before probable cause based on hearsay can be found, it must appear "that the informant has some basis of knowledge for the information he transmitted to the police and that the information is reliable" (People v. Johnson, supra, at 402, 497 N.Y.S.2d 618, 488 N.E.2d 439). Statements against penal interest have been deemed sufficient to assure reliability "when assessing hearsay information necessary to support a probable cause determination" (People v. Johnson, supra, at 403, 497 N.Y.S.2d 618, 488 N.E.2d 439; see, People v. Comforto, 62 N.Y.2d 725, 476 N.Y.S.2d 815, 465 N.E.2d 354). Here, the informant provided information that was contrary to his own penal interests as his knowledge was based upon his own prior involvement with the instant criminal enterprise (see, People v. Delarosa, 215 A.D.2d 496, 626 N.Y.S.2d 827; People v. Messina, 209 A.D.2d 642, 619 N.Y.S.2d 135; cf., People v. Cassella, 143 A.D.2d 192, 531 N.Y.S.2d 639). Under these circumstances, the Supreme Court properly held...