People v. Rodriguez

• Decision Date: 17 June 2021
• Docket Number: 110818
• Citation: 148 N.Y.S.3d 538,195 A.D.3d 1237
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Willie RODRIGUEZ, Appellant.

195 A.D.3d 1237

148 N.Y.S.3d 538

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Willie RODRIGUEZ, Appellant.

110818

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

Calendar Date: April 22, 2021

Decided and Entered: June 17, 2021

Willie Rodriguez, Comstock, appellant pro se.

David J. Clegg, District Attorney, Kingston (Joan Gudesblatt Lamb of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Garry, P.J., Egan Jr., Lynch and Colangelo, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Egan Jr., J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Williams, J.), rendered November 28, 2018, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.

In February 2018, following a joint investigation by the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Task Force and the Community Narcotics Enforcement Team, defendant was indicted and charged with one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.¹ The charges stemmed from the targeted purchase of two handguns that had been reported stolen from the vehicle of a retired police officer in December 2018. As part of an undercover buy operation, a confidential informant (hereinafter CI) purchased one of the stolen handguns and, minutes later, defendant allegedly purchased the other. Police thereafter executed a traffic stop of defendant's vehicle and, following a search thereof, found, among other things, a loaded Smith & Wesson .380 caliber handgun and a quantity of heroin in the vehicle.² Defendant filed an omnibus motion seeking to, among other things, dismiss the indictment and suppress the evidence seized but, following a hearing, County Court denied the suppression motion. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree but was acquitted of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. County Court denied defendant's subsequent motion to set aside the verdict pursuant to CPL 330.30, and he was thereafter sentenced to a prison term of 13 years, to be followed by five years of postrelease supervision, on the second degree criminal possession conviction and to a lesser concurrent prison term on the remaining conviction. Defendant appeals.

Initially, defendant's contention that the integrity of the grand jury proceedings was impaired based upon the People's presentation of the charges to multiple grand juries and improperly amending the indictment is unpreserved for our review as these issues were not addressed in his motion to dismiss the indictment (see CPL 210.20[3] ; People v. Sutton, 174 A.D.3d 1052, 1054, 103 N.Y.S.3d 698 [2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 954, 110 N.Y.S.3d 633, 134 N.E.3d 632 [2019] ).³ Similarly, defendant waived any claim regarding the misjoinder of defendants as he failed to raise this issue before County Court (see People v. Peters, 249 A.D.2d 987, 987, 671 N.Y.S.2d 387 [1998], lv denied 92 N.Y.2d 903, 680 N.Y.S.2d 67, 702 N.E.2d 852 [1998] ; People v. Dumblewski, 61 A.D.2d 875, 876, 402 N.Y.S.2d 89 [1978] ).⁴ Additionally, as defendant has not challenged the legal sufficiency of the evidence presented at trial, it is presumed legally sufficient and, therefore, his contention that the legal instructions provided to the grand jury were insufficient is precluded (see CPL 210.30[6] ; People v. Weaver, 167 A.D.3d 1238, 1239, 90 N.Y.S.3d 359 [2018], lv denied 33 N.Y.3d 955, 100 N.Y.S.3d 187, 123 N.E.3d 846 [2019] ).

Defendant next contends that County Court erred in denying his suppression motion because the police lacked probable cause to effectuate a stop of his motor vehicle. We disagree. Police are permitted to conduct a traffic stop where there is "a reasonable suspicion that the driver or occupants of the vehicle have committed, are committing or are about to commit a crime" ( People v. Houghtalen, 89 A.D.3d 1163, 1164, 931 N.Y.S.2d 922 [2011] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]). To that end, a CI's tip "may provide reasonable suspicion ... if the People demonstrate the informant's reliability and the basis of his or her knowledge" ( People v. Portelli, 116 A.D.3d 1163, 1164, 983 N.Y.S.2d 355 [2014] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; accord People v. Cook, 134 A.D.3d 1241, 1243, 20 N.Y.S.3d 744 [2015], lv denied 26 N.Y.3d 1143, 32 N.Y.S.3d 57, 51 N.E.3d 568 [2016] ). Police officers are also "entitled to act upon information received from other officers" ( People v. Douglas, 42 A.D.3d 756, 758, 839 N.Y.S.2d 337 [2007], lv denied 9 N.Y.3d 922, 844 N.Y.S.2d 177, 875 N.E.2d 896 [2007] ; see People v. Cummings, 157 A.D.3d 982, 984, 69 N.Y.S.3d 394 [2018], lv denied 31 N.Y.3d 982, 77 N.Y.S.3d 660, 102 N.E.3d 437 [2018] ). Ultimately, the "[f]actual determinations of the suppression court are entitled to great weight and will not be overturned unless clearly contrary to the evidence, taking into consideration the court's credibility determinations" ( People v. Weishaupt, 118 A.D.3d 1100, 1102, 987 N.Y.S.2d 493 [2014] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; see People v. Rudolph, 170 A.D.3d 1258, 1259, 95 N.Y.S.3d 629 [2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 937, 109 N.Y.S.3d 724, 133 N.E.3d 427 [2019] ).

The evidence at the suppression hearing established that, on December 21, 2018, two handguns were reported stolen from the vehicle of a retired police officer in the Village of Saugerties, Ulster County. The following day, a state trooper received a telephone call from a CI indicating that a person by the name of "Cutty" had offered to sell him the subject guns. The trooper worked with this CI on over 20 prior narcotics and firearm operations wherein he had provided reliable and trustworthy information and, in turn, the trooper passed this information on to a detective from the Ulster County Sheriff's Department. The detective was actively investigating the stolen guns, was familiar with Cutty, i.e., Skylar Eichert, and knew his home address. An undercover purchase operation was thereafter organized, a surveillance team was assembled, the CI was searched, provided with $1,000 in prerecorded buy money and outfitted with an audio recording device, and an undercover officer thereafter drove the CI to Eichert's residence to purchase the two handguns.

At approximately 8:00 p.m., the CI entered Eichert's residence. Approximately 10 minutes later, while the CI was still inside, a black Honda Accord with Wisconsin license plates arrived and a Hispanic male – later identified as defendant – exited the driver side of the vehicle and entered the same residence. The surveillance team listened to the transaction in real time via the CI's recording device as the CI, Eichert and defendant discussed the purchase of the guns. A few minutes later, the CI exited the residence with a backpack and informed the undercover officer that he had purchased one of the two guns but that defendant was presently in the residence purchasing the second one. This information was relayed to the surveillance team and the CI and the undercover officer then left the scene to go to a predetermined meet location while the surveillance team remained behind to continue surveilling the residence and the black Honda. Approximately five minutes later, defendant exited the residence and drove off in the Honda. The officers followed defendant and, a few blocks later, effectuated a traffic stop. Defendant exited the driver side of the vehicle with his hands in the air and was taken into custody, and a pistol magazine and one round of ammunition was found in his right pants pocket. Defendant thereafter told officers that there was a handgun in the glove box of his vehicle, where it was subsequently located. A subsequent search of a female passenger revealed that she had a quantity of heroin on her person.

Based on the foregoing, we find that County Court appropriately determined that the police had a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to justify the stop of defendant's vehicle. The officers who effectuated the traffic stop had been informed by the undercover officer that the CI – who had been demonstrated to be reliable and trustworthy – had purchased one of the two stolen handguns and indicated that the individual who entered Eichert's residence after him was purchasing the second stolen handgun. The surveilling officers had observed this individual enter the residence, had overheard the subsequent discussion regarding the guns on the CI's recording device and thereafter observed the same individual exit the residence. Accordingly, the officers had a reasonable suspicion that defendant had committed a crime and, therefore, the stop of defendant's vehicle was lawful (see People v. Cook, 134 A.D.3d at 1243, 20 N.Y.S.3d 744 ; People v. Portelli, 116 A.D.3d at 1164, 983 N.Y.S.2d 355 ), as was the search of his vehicle and his arrest (see People v. Clark, 153 A.D.3d 1093, 1095, 60 N.Y.S.3d 590 [2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 979, 67 N.Y.S.3d 581, 89 N.E.3d 1261 [2017] ; People v. Coffey, 107 A.D.3d 1047, 1049–1050, 966 N.Y.S.2d 277 [2013], lv denied 21 N.Y.3d 1041, 972 N.Y.S.2d 538, 995 N.E.2d 854 [2013] ).

We find no error with County Court's challenged evidentiary rulings.⁵ With respect to the admission of the audio recording from the CI's recording device, the People properly authenticated the recording, identified the voices thereon and established that it was genuine and had not been tampered with (see People v. Ely, 68 N.Y.2d 520, 527, 510 N.Y.S.2d 532, 503 N.E.2d 88 [1986] ; People v. Lind, 133 A.D.3d 914, 915, 18 N.Y.S.3d 786 [2015], lv denied 27 N.Y.3d 1153, 39 N.Y.S.3d 387, 62 N.E.3d 127 [2016] ; People v. Galunas, 107 A.D.3d 1034, 1034, 966 N.Y.S.2d 280 [2013] )....