Opinion ID: 2095398
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: People v Kassebaum and the Current Possession Counts

Text: While the majority declines to discuss the applicability of CPL 20.20 (1) (a) to this case and concludes that People v Kassebaum (95 NY2d 611 [2001]) does not apply because it discusses CPL 20.20 (1) (a)a different subsection than that discussed here (majority op at 317), that section and jurisdiction of the possession offenses was applied by the trial court and is a major contention of the People on this appeal. The fact that the majority does not discuss CPL 20.20 (1) (a) in no way removes it from this case. To uphold a conviction for criminal possession of a controlled substance based upon constructive possession of drugs found in California where the defendant was also located in California would be an extension of this Court's decision in People v Kassebaum (95 NY2d 611 [2001]). In that case, defendant, whose role was to test the purity of the heroin sought to be brought to New York, met with the leader of the conspiracy in Brooklyn, New York. Subsequently, defendant was arrested in Massachusetts and convicted in New York for conspiracy in the second degree and attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree based upon the conduct of an accomplice (the leader of the conspiracy) in New York in collecting money for the sale of drugs, making travel arrangements for defendant and directing the activities of defendant in Massachusetts. This Court noted in Kassebaum that the issue under CPL 20.20 (1) (a) is whether the People established that defendant and his accomplices engaged in conduct within New York sufficient to establish an element of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance as required by the statute. We stated: Defendant's reliance on Cullen [ People v Cullen, 50 NY2d 168 (1980)] is misplaced because none of the individuals held criminally accountable in Cullen were present in the prosecuting jurisdiction when the offense was consummated. In addition, Cullen stands for the proposition that a defendant does not manifest the knowledge element necessary for criminal possession of a controlled substance until he or she takes possession of the narcotic. This holding does not necessarily apply to an attempt offense which requires proof of a different mens rea the intent to accomplish a criminal objective. Here, proof was offered that defendants engaged in substantial conduct in New York that manifested an intent to obtain heroin and return with it to New York. Standing alone, this conduct did not rise to a level sufficient to support criminal prosecution for attempted possession of a controlled substance because defendants' conduct did not constitute an attempt until the meeting in the Boston hotel room when defendants' conduct came `dangerously near' criminal possession of heroin ( see, People v Acosta, supra, 80 NY2d 665). Nonetheless, the conduct committed in New York evidenced defendant's intent sufficiently to establish the jurisdictional predicate underlying the prosecution under the CPL 20.20 (1) (a) element requirement. ( Id. at 620-621 [emphasis supplied].) Thus, Kassebaum permitted the prosecution and conviction in this state of an attempt to commit the crime of criminal possession of a controlled substance, not the completed crime of criminal possession. Defendant's argument is that while a prosecution and conviction for the attempted possession of a controlled substance was held proper in Kassebaum, no actual or constructive possession occurred in that case in New York and, in that respect, a conviction of defendant in New York for the completed crime of possession would be an extension of Kassebaum. The Appellate Division agreed with this argument with respect to the crime of actual rather than constructive possession. The Appellate Division stated: While in People v Kassebaum (95 NY2d 611 [2001], cert denied 532 US 1069 [2001]), the Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of the defendant for attempted possession of narcotics that were located in Massachusetts, there is an important distinction between attempted possession and possession. The attempt crime includes as an element that the defendant `engag[ed] in conduct which tends to effect the commission of such crime' (Penal Law § 110.00); therefore, because the defendant in Kassebaum had engaged in conduct in New York that manifested an intent to obtain heroin and return with it to New York, the People successfully established that an element of the crime had occurred in this state (95 NY2d at 621). (14 AD3d at 170.) To uphold the conviction of the defendant for criminal possession of a controlled substance in New York, the Appellate Division did not rely on Kassebaum but rather relied on the doctrine of constructive possession.