Opinion
No. 2023-50192
03-15-2023
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Jason Vernon, Defendant-Appellant.
Unpublished Opinion
PRESENT: TISCH, J.P., MICHAEL, JAMES, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Heidi C. Cesare, J.), rendered July 21, 2016, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of unlicensed general vending, and imposing sentence.
Judgment of conviction (Heidi C. Cesare, J.), rendered July 21, 2016, affirmed.
Since defendant waived prosecution by information, the accusatory instrument is assessed under the reasonable cause standard applicable to a misdemeanor complaint (see People v Dumay, 23 N.Y.3d 518, 522 [2014]). So viewed, the instrument was jurisdictionally valid because it described facts of an evidentiary nature establishing reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of unlicensed general vending (see Administrative Code of City of NY § 20-453). The "public space" element of the offense (Administrative Code § 20-452[d]) was satisfied by sworn police allegations that defendant was selling DVDs while "standing in front of a blanket" upon which the DVDs were arranged "at 4 South Street... a public sidewalk in the South Street Ferry" (see People v Abdurraheem, 94 A.D.3d 569 [2012], lv denied 19 N.Y.3d 970 [2012]; People v Sosa, 57 Misc.3d 129 [A], 2017 NY Slip Op 51166[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 1063 [2017]; People v Kasse, 40 Misc.3d 126[A], 2013 NY Slip Op 51022 [U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2013], affd 22 N.Y.3d 1142 [2014]).