People v. Terry

• Decision Date: 01 June 1987
• Citation: 516 N.Y.S.2d 470,131 A.D.2d 521
• Parties: The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. David Lee TERRY, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 470

516 N.Y.S.2d 470

131 A.D.2d 521

The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. David Lee TERRY, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.

June 1, 1987.

Matthew Muraskin, Mineola (Michael J. Obus and Stacy Wolf, of counsel), for appellant.

Denis Dillon, Dist. Atty., Mineola (Anthony J. Girese and Lawrence J. Zinn, of counsel), for respondent.

Before BROWN, J.P., and NIEHOFF, SULLIVAN and HARWOOD, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County (Belfi, J.), rendered March 8, 1985, convicting him of driving while intoxicated as a felony, after a nonjury trial, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant cannot seek suppression of his prior conviction of the misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated on the ground that the conviction was "unconstitutionally obtained" (see, People v. Knack, 128 A.D.2d 307, 516 N.Y.S.2d 465). In any case, the record discloses that the defendant voluntarily waived his constitutional rights when he pleaded guilty to the prior misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated. Thus, the instant charge of driving while intoxicated was properly increased to felony status.