Case Name: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Danny Johnson, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 2001-03-06
Citations: 281 A.D.2d 183
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Danny Johnson, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 281
Pages: 183–183

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Danny Johnson, Appellant.
[721 NYS2d 521]

Opinion:
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Dorothy Cropper, J., at hearing; Ronald Zweibel, J., at plea and sentence), rendered November 30, 1998, convicting defendant of attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4 to 8 years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's suppression motion was properly denied. Although the People neglected to elicit the fact that defendant's arrest was based on a communication between the observing and arresting officers, the circumstantial evidence warrants such a conclusion (People v Gonzalez, 91 NY2d 909). Such a communication is the only rational explanation of how defendant came to be arrested immediately after making a series of police-observed drug sales. The coincidence theory posited by defendant on appeal does not provide a rational explanation.
We perceive no basis for reduction of sentence. Concur— Nardelli, J. P., Williams, Tom, Lerner and Friedman, JJ.