Opinion
12-22-2016
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Jose MILAN, Defendant–Appellant.
Patrick J. Brackley, New York, for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Hope Korenstein of counsel), for respondent.
Patrick J. Brackley, New York, for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Hope Korenstein of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard D. Carruthers, J.), rendered February 19, 2014, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of eight years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. The record supports the court's finding that defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in duffel bags after he left them on the ground in a public place and walked away in an obvious effort to distance himself from the bags (see People v. Ramirez–Portoreal, 88 N.Y.2d 99, 643 N.Y.S.2d 502, 666 N.E.2d 207 [1996] ; People v. Sosa, 246 A.D.2d 387, 666 N.Y.S.2d 430 [1st Dept.1998], lv. denied 91 N.Y.2d 945, 671 N.Y.S.2d 725, 694 N.E.2d 894 [1998] ), notwithstanding that he later admitted that the bags were his. The record also supports the court's alternative finding that, based on a chain of suspicious circumstances, including defendant's walking away from the bags, and his false and evasive answers (see e.g. People v. Wigfall, 295 A.D.2d 222, 744 N.Y.S.2d 373 [1st Dept.2002], lv.
denied 99 N.Y.2d 50, 751 N.Y.S.2d 165, 780 N.E.2d 976 [2002] ), the police were in reasonable fear for their safety and were justified in inspecting the bags as a safety measure (see People v. Moore, 32 N.Y.2d 67, 71, 343 N.Y.S.2d 107, 295 N.E.2d 780 [1973], cert. denied 414 U.S. 1011, 94 S.Ct. 376, 38 L.Ed.2d 249 [1973] ).
FRIEDMAN, J.P., MOSKOWITZ, WEBBER, KAHN, GESMER, JJ., concur.