Opinion
2014-10-14
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Thomas LITTLE, Defendant–Appellant.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (David Crow of counsel), and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, New York (Benjamin Mills and Avi Gesser of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (David P. Stromes of counsel), for respondent.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (David Crow of counsel), and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, New York (Benjamin Mills and Avi Gesser of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (David P. Stromes of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Juan M. Merchan, J. at suppression hearing; Lewis Bart Stone, J. at plea and sentencing), rendered November 17, 2011, convicting defendant of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of one year, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. Police officers heard women screaming from inside an apartment in an area where a series of burglaries and robberies had taken place. They found the door to the building unlocked and defendant standing in the vestibule with a companion, with the women pointing at them and continuing to scream. Defendant gave a false explanation for his presence, and effectively admitted that he was at least a trespasser. The circumstances facing the officers, with particular reference to the women's demeanor ( see e. g. People v. Hicks, 279 A.D.2d 332, 719 N.Y.S.2d 244 [1st Dept.2001], lv. denied96 N.Y.2d 801, 726 N.Y.S.2d 378, 750 N.E.2d 80 [2001] ), provided them with reasonable suspicion that defendant had committed, or was about to commit, a burglary or robbery. This justified an immediate protective frisk for weapons ( see People v. Mack, 26 N.Y.2d 311, 310 N.Y.S.2d 292, 258 N.E.2d 703 [1970], cert. denied400 U.S. 960, 91 S.Ct. 357, 27 L.Ed.2d 270 [1970] ). The police lawfully recovered drugs in the course of the protective frisk. FRIEDMAN, J.P., MOSKOWITZ, FEINMAN, GISCHE, KAPNICK, JJ., concur.