People v. Leach

• Decision Date: 25 June 2013
• Citation: 971 N.Y.S.2d 234,21 N.Y.3d 969,2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 04724,993 N.E.2d 1255
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Tawond LEACH, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

21 N.Y.3d 969
993 N.E.2d 1255
971 N.Y.S.2d 234
2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 04724

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,
v.
Tawond LEACH, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

June 25, 2013.

[971 N.Y.S.2d 235]

Levitt & Kaizer, New York City (Yvonne Shivers of counsel), for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn (Thomas M. Ross and Leonard Joblove of counsel), for respondent.

[21 N.Y.3d 970]OPINION OF THE COURT
MEMORANDUM.

[993 N.E.2d 1256]The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

On March 20, 2008, shortly before 7:00 p.m., two shooters fired at and hit a parked sport utility vehicle (SUV) occupied by three young men, brothers who survived the onslaught unhurt. Two of them were able to see the attackers, whom they identified to the police as defendant Tawond Leach and his brother Derek. The victims had grown up and gone to school with the Leach brothers in the same Brooklyn neighborhood where this incident occurred. They told the police that defendant shot at the SUV using a silver gun, and that he and his brother resided in a nearby building. About an hour later, defendant and his brother were arrested when they arrived at their grandmother's apartment on the second floor of this building. The police recovered a loaded silver gun from a bedroom in the apartment.

Defendant and his brother were charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, attempted assault, reckless endangerment, and weapon possession. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress the gun. At the hearing, his grandmother testified that she was the only one who had keys to her apartment, which had three bedrooms—hers, defendant's, which was furnished with a single bed, and an “extra” one reserved for the exclusive use of other grandchildren when they visited. She testified that she [21 N.Y.3d 971]had nine grandchildren, some lived nearby and two or three slept over in the extra bedroom “quite often.” The extra or guest bedroom was furnished with two twin beds, an armoire and a dresser. The police recovered the gun from this bedroom.

[971 N.Y.S.2d 236]

At the hearing's conclusion, Supreme Court denied the motion to suppress. The judge credited the grandmother's testimony that the bedroom where the gun was found was an extra or guest bedroom; and that defendant had a separate room and did not stay in the guest bedroom. Given these facts, Supreme Court held that defendant failed to meet his burden of establishing a reasonable expectation of privacy in “a room...