Opinion
5763 SCI 4030N/15
02-20-2018
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Darren GUERRERO, Defendant–Appellant.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Rachel T. Goldberg of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Frank Glaser of counsel), for respondent.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Rachel T. Goldberg of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Frank Glaser of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Richter, Manzanet–Daniels, Andrias, Gesmer, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Tamiko A. Amaker, J. at plea; Richard M. Weinberg, J. at sentencing), rendered July 8, 2015, convicting defendant of criminal possession of a controlled substance in second degree and attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender, to an aggregate term of six years, respectively, unanimously affirmed.
The second-degree weapon possession charge in the superior court information was not jurisdictionally defective. Although that charge was greater than the third-degree weapon charge contained in the felony complaint, it was "properly joinable" ( CPL 195.20 ) with the drug possession charges contained in both the superior court information and the felony complaint. The weapon and drug charges were part of the same "criminal transaction" because all the contraband was recovered at essentially the same time during a search of defendant's apartment (see CPL 40.10[2] ; 200.20[2][a] ). Moreover, the offenses were joinable because proof of each would be material and admissible as evidence upon a trial of the other (see CPL 200.20[2][a] ).