People v. Lee

• Decision Date: 04 May 1976
• Parties: , 348 N.E.2d 579 PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Eugene LEE, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 123

384 N.Y.S.2d 123

39 N.Y.2d 388, 348 N.E.2d 579

PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Eugene LEE, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

May 4, 1976.

Eugene L. Shapiro and William E. Hellerstein, New York City, for appellant.

Eugene Gold, Dist. Atty. (Alan D. Rubinstein, Brooklyn, of counsel), for respondent.

MEMORANDUM.

On April 20, 1972, outside a basement apartment at 155 Lexington Avenue in Brooklyn, a confidential informant introduced undercover Officer Feurtado to appellant, asking the latter if he could 'take care of' his friend. While the informant waited outside, appellant directed Feurtado inside and sold him a 'half bundle' of heroin. Twice during the next few months Feurtado saw appellant on the street and on July 11, 1972, after receiving word that appellant was somewhere on Franklin Avenue, sighted appellant in the rear seat of a parked automobile. Feurtado waited and watched from across the street as Officer Moore, a member of the back-up team, arrested appellant. Then Feurtado signaled, indicating that Moore had arrested the right man.

Appellant was convicted, after trial, of criminally selling a dangerous drug in the third degree (formerly Penal Law, § 220.35) and criminal possession of a dangerous drug in the sixth degree (formerly Penal Law, § 220.05). On appeal, appellant argued that the identity of the informant should have been disclosed and that the conviction for criminal possession of a dangerous drug in the sixth degree should have been dismissed pursuant to CPL 300.40 (subd. 3, par. (b)) and CPL 300.30 (subd. 4) as such count constitutes a lesser 'inclusory concurrent count' of criminal sale in the third degree. The Appellate Division affirmed, without opinion.

Addressing ourselves first to the issue of disclosure, we note that at the close of the People's case the defense moved for production of the informant. After an In camera examination of the informant, the trial court denied the motion on the ground that such disclosure would not advance appellant's case, neither on the question of credibility nor on any issue of substantive law. This denial was proper for, as this court recently held in People v. Goggins, 34 N.Y.2d 163, 356 N.Y.S.2d 571, 313 N.E.2d 41 and the companion case of People v. Brown, 34 N.Y.2d 163, 170, 356 N.Y.S.2d 571, 576, 313 N.E.2d 41, 45, 'the truly crucial factor in every case is the relevance of the informer's testimony to the guilt or innocence of the accused.' Here, it was correctly ruled that such testimony would not have been relevant. We note that in this case, decided before the opinion was handed down in People v. Goggins (supra) the Judge conducted an In camera hearing on the basis of which, in part at least, he denied defendant's application for disclosure of the identity of the informer. As we noted in Goggins, where the issue is the guilt or innocence of the defendant, resort to an In camera hearing is usually inappropriate since the...