Summary
In Brannon, although Blake testified that he was able to see a hinged top of a closed knife and observed the outline of a pocketknife in defendant's pocket, he was unable to testify that he suspected or believed it to be a gravity knife.
Summary of this case from People v. BrannonOpinion
No. 70.
March 17, 2009.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Arlene R. Silverman, J.), rendered February 13, 2007, as amended April 19, 2007, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 2 to 4 years, unanimously affirmed.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Karen M. Kalikow of counsel), for appellant.
Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Nivritha Casi Ketty of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Andrias, Gonzalez, Moskowitz and Renwick, JJ.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. There is no basis for disturbing the court's credibility determinations ( see People v Prochilo, 41 NY2d 759, 761). The combination of defendant's suspiciously evasive conduct, the officer's observation that defendant was carrying what was at the least a large and possibly dangerous knife, and defendant's acknowledgment, in response to a proper common-law inquiry, that he had a knife, permitted the officer to conduct a self-protective frisk ( see People v Batista, 88 NY2d 650, 654; People v Benjamin, 51 NY2d 267, 271; see also People v King, 102 AD2d 710, affd 65 NY2d 702).