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People v. Williams

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 6, 1998
249 A.D.2d 343 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)

Opinion

April 6, 1998

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Lebowitz, J.).


Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant contends that the Supreme Court should have suppressed the physical evidence recovered by the police. He argues that the search warrant had been issued improperly because it was based upon an affidavit which was stale since it indicated only that drugs had been seen on the premises within the previous two-week period. There is a strong judicial preference for search warrants ( see, People v. Hanlon, 36 N.Y.2d 549), and "courts should not analyze applications in a grudging or hypertechnical manner when determining whether they meet constitutional standards" ( People v. Edwards, 69 N.Y.2d 814, 816; see also, People v. Hanlon, supra, at 558). The search warrant application must provide the court with sufficient information to support a reasonable belief that evidence of illegal activity will be present at the specific time and place of the search ( see, People v. Bigelow, 66 N.Y.2d 417, 423; People v. Edwards, supra, at 816).

Here, the informant's first-hand observations, related to the court in sworn testimony, provided ample information sufficient for the court to reasonably believe that an on-going drug enterprise was being operated from the subject premises. Thus, the information upon which the court relied in issuing the search warrant was not rendered stale by the two-week delay between the observations of the informant and the issuing of the warrant ( see, People v. Mallory, 234 A.D.2d 913, 914; People v. Telesco, 207 A.D.2d 920, 921).

In addition, the defendant was not entitled to an Alfinito hearing ( see, People v. Alfinito, 16 N.Y.2d 181; Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154). The defendant is not entitled to such a hearing where, as here, he challenges the credibility of the source of information i.e., the informant, but only where he attacks the veracity of the police officer affiant ( see, People v. Slaughter, 37 N.Y.2d 596, 600; People v. Bashian, 190 A.D.2d 681, 682).

The defendant's remaining contentions are either unpreserved for appellate review ( see, CPL 470.05) or without merit.

O'Brien, J.P., Joy, Altman and Luciano, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Williams

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Apr 6, 1998
249 A.D.2d 343 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)
Case details for

People v. Williams

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. ARNOLD WILLIAMS…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Apr 6, 1998

Citations

249 A.D.2d 343 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)
670 N.Y.S.2d 893

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