People v. Spradlin

• Decision Date: 25 November 2020
• Docket Number: 110872,111254
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Benjamin S. SPRADLIN, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

188 A.D.3d 1454

136 N.Y.S.3d 517

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Benjamin S. SPRADLIN, Appellant.

110872

111254

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

Decided and Entered: November 25, 2020

Teresa C. Mulliken, Harpersfield, for appellant.

Matthew Van Houten, District Attorney, Ithaca (Emily Perks Quinlan of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Lynch, J.P., Mulvey, Devine, Pritzker and Colangelo, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Lynch, J.P.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the County Court of Tompkins County (Miller, J.), rendered April 6, 2018, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crimes of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (three counts), criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree, and (2) by permission, from an order of said court, entered May 7, 2019, which denied defendant's motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate the judgment of conviction, without a hearing.

In connection with the seizure of contraband by police during a search of defendant's person and vehicle, defendant was charged by indictment with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (three counts), criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree.¹ Thereafter, defendant filed an omnibus motion seeking to, among other things, suppress the evidence seized from his person and vehicle as the product of an illegal search. Following a combined Huntley/Dunaway/Mapp hearing, County Court denied defendant's motion, finding that brief detention of defendant prior to his arrest was based on specific, articulable facts and that the search of his person and vehicle was legal.

Defendant pleaded guilty as charged and expressly reserved the right to appeal County Court's denial of his suppression motion.² He was sentenced, as a second felony offender, to a prison term of five years, followed by five years of postrelease supervision, upon his conviction of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and to lesser concurrent prison terms on the remaining convictions.³ Thereafter, defendant moved pursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate the judgment of conviction, arguing, among other things, that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel because his attorney had a conflict of interest. In a May 2019 order, County Court denied the motion without a hearing. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction and, by permission of this Court, from the May 2019 order.

With respect to his appeal from the judgment of conviction, defendant contends that County Court erred in denying his motion to suppress the physical evidence seized from his person and vehicle. We disagree. " ‘In People v. De Bour , 40 N.Y.2d 210, 386 N.Y.S.2d 375, 352 N.E.2d 562 (1976), the Court of Appeals set forth a graduated four-level test for evaluating street encounters initiated by the police: level one permits a police officer to request information from an individual and merely requires that the request be supported by an objective, credible reason, not necessarily indicative of criminality; level two, the common-law right of inquiry, permits a somewhat greater intrusion and requires a founded suspicion that criminal activity is afoot; level three authorizes an officer to forcibly stop and detain an individual, and requires a reasonable suspicion that the particular individual was involved in a felony or misdemeanor; level four, arrest, requires probable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed a crime’ " ( People v. Sanders, 185 A.D.3d 1280, 1282, 128 N.Y.S.3d 350 [2020], lv denied 35 N.Y.3d 1115, 133 N.Y.S.3d 517, 158 N.E.3d 534 [Oct. 30, 2020], quoting People v. Stover, 181 A.D.3d 1061, 1061–1062, 120 N.Y.S.3d 650 [2020] ). "These encounters can be dynamic situations during which the degree of belief possessed at the point of inception may blossom by virtue of responses or other matters which authorize ... additional action as the scenario unfolds" ( People v. Tillery, 60 A.D.3d 1203, 1205, 875 N.Y.S.2d 343 [2009] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted], lv denied 12 N.Y.3d 860, 881 N.Y.S.2d 672, 909 N.E.2d 595 [2009] ).

During the suppression hearing, the People elicited testimony from Michael Meskill, a police officer with the City of Ithaca Police Department, and submitted evidence of his body camera recording. Meskill testified that, on August 7, 2016 at approximately 6:15 a.m., he responded to a dispatch call to check on an individual who was reportedly unresponsive in a parked vehicle in a shopping plaza in the City of Ithaca, Tompkins County. Upon responding to that location, Meskill noticed defendant "slumped over to the left" in the driver's seat with the engine running. The body camera footage depicts that the driver's seat was reclined and defendant was lying on his side facing the door with his body appearing to be pressed against it. Meskill knocked on the passenger window to wake defendant, told him to turn the car off and asked if they could speak; defendant agreed. Meskill then walked to the driver's side and asked defendant to exit the vehicle. Defendant did not exit at that time, but freely stated that "he was waiting for his girlfriend to go shopping." Meskill then inquired about when defendant had arrived at the parking lot, to which defendant responded that he had been there since "approximately 2:00 [a.m.]" and that his girlfriend was going to come meet him. Meskill testified, and the body camera footage corroborates, that defendant appeared disoriented and was slurring his speech, which indicated to Meskill that defendant may have been impaired. Meskill asked defendant to produce his license and, when defendant attempted to do so, he "struggled with his wallet," took approximately 45 seconds to produce his license and presented Meskill with an expired vehicle rental agreement. Meskill then asked defendant to give him his key fob, explaining that he did so for safety purposes because he believed that defendant was impaired. Defendant told Meskill that, although he was not the primary driver of the vehicle, he was authorized as a secondary driver and the rental agreement had been extended. During the middle of the encounter, Meskill received a communication from an officer requesting a phone call. At that time, Meskill told defendant not to move in the car, turned his body camera off, walked to the back of the vehicle and made the call. Meskill testified that, while on the phone, he observed defendant "moving about as if he was stuffing something underneath either the floorboard or the seat." He further explained that the officer with whom he spoke informed him that defendant was known to carry a firearm and advised him to use caution.

Meskill then ordered defendant to step out of the vehicle. Meskill testified that, as defendant exited, he observed a chrome stem on the floorboard of the vehicle alongside the driver's seat, believing it to be a crack pipe given his training and experience with narcotics. Defendant then closed the door and Meskill opened it back up, asking defendant to identify the object. According to Meskill, defendant moved toward the door again, prompting Meskill to "set him up against the car" and to place him in handcuffs. Meskill then retrieved the chrome stem, as well as a "Kung Fu star" (see Penal Law § 265.00 [15–b] ) that was in plain view on the driver's seat. He thereafter initiated a search of defendant's person, finding a taser, a pocketknife, a tin containing narcotics, and a bag containing pills, a chalky white substance and a brown substance. Meskill also did a preliminary search of the vehicle, finding, among other things, savings bonds located underneath the driver's side door mat that were not issued in defendant's name. Following the vehicle's impoundment, an investigator sought and obtained a warrant authorizing a search of the vehicle. During the execution of that warrant, investigators located, among other things, a loaded handgun. They then obtained a second warrant authorizing the seizure of the gun.

Deferring to County Court's credibility determinations (see People v. Tillery, 60 A.D.3d at 1205, 875 N.Y.S.2d 343 ), we find that the search of defendant's person and vehicle was proper. With respect to the initial encounter, unlike a stop of a moving vehicle – which must be based upon reasonable suspicion of criminal activity (see People v. Ocasio, 85 N.Y.2d 982, 984, 629 N.Y.S.2d 161, 652 N.E.2d 907 [1995] ) or probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred (see People v. Hinshaw, 35 N.Y.3d 427, 434, 132 N.Y.S.3d 90, 156 N.E.3d 812 [2020] ) – "[a] police approach to an occupied, stationary vehicle is subject to the first level of the De Bour analysis" and is justified if "supported by an objective, credible reason, not necessarily indicative of criminality" ( People v. Stover, 181 A.D.3d at 1062, 120 N.Y.S.3d 650 [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see People v. Stevenson, 149 A.D.3d 1271, 1272, 52 N.Y.S.3d 533 [2017], lv denied 29 N.Y.3d 1134, 64 N.Y.S.3d 684, 86 N.E.3d 576 [2017] ). There is no dispute here that Meskill was authorized to approach defendant's vehicle in response to a citizen-requested welfare check upon observing him slumped over with the engine running. Instead, defendant contends that he was unlawfully seized without reasonable suspicion when Meskill ordered him out of the vehicle immediately upon waking him and thereafter asked for his key fob. Although Meskill was permitted to ask for defendant's driver's license and to inquire about his reason for being at the...