Case Name: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Frederick Young, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 2013-05-21
Citations: 106 A.D.3d 578
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Frederick Young, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 106
Pages: 578–579

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Frederick Young, Appellant.
[964 NYS2d 540]

Opinion:
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.), rendered April 26, 2011, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of 1 to 3 years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. Defendant's arrest, which led to the recovery of a gravity knife in his possession, was supported by probable cause (see People v McRay, 51 NY2d 594, 602-604 [1980]). Defendant was arrested based on an experienced officer's observation of a transaction in which defendant gave money to another individual in exchange for a small plastic bag containing a brown substance that the officer believed to be marijuana. We reject defendant's assertion that the officer was insufficiently experienced to recognize, as a drug transaction, the events he observed. Moreover, as in People v Graham (211 AD2d 55, 60 [1995], lv denied 86 NY2d 795 [1995]), even without police training, "any person observing de fendant . . . using good common sense" would have concluded that he had purchased drugs.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur— Tom, J.E, Acosta, Renwick, DeGrasse and Richter, JJ.