You are here: / / Stop and Investigative Detention of Defendant Was Proper Under DeBour Analysis/Defendant’s...

Stop and Investigative Detention of Defendant Was Proper Under DeBour Analysis/Defendant’s Absence from Initial Sandoval Conference Cured by His Presence at a Subsequent Sandoval Hearing/Defendant’s Sentence Reduced Based In Part on a Much Lower Sentence Attached to a Plea Offer

The Fourth Department determined that the arresting officer had enough information about the defendant’s behavior to justify stopping the defendant after he left a store with a plastic garbage bag (which turned out to be full of shirts on hangers).  The court explained and applied the DeBour criteria for street stops and investigative detention.  The court further determined that defendant’s absence from a discussion in chambers of the prior crimes about which the defendant could be questioned if he testified (a Sandoval hearing) was not reversible error because the same discussion was later held on the record in defendant’s presence.  The Fourth Department reduced defendant’s sentence, who was found to be a persistent felony offender, from 20 to 15 years, noting that he was a non-violent serial shoplifter and he had been offered a plea deal with a sentence of two to four years.  With respect to the legality of stopping and detaining the defendant, the court wrote:

…[T]he deputy sheriff observed defendant carrying the bag while walking away from the scene of a recently reported larceny and in the direction of the suspected getaway vehicle. Although there were other people in the parking lot at the time, defendant was the only person walking toward that vehicle and the only person carrying a large garbage bag, which is unusual in that setting. Based on those observations, we conclude that the deputy sheriff had the requisite founded suspicion that criminal activity was afoot sufficient to justify the common-law right of inquiry … .

Moving to the next step of the DeBour analysis, we conclude that the deputy sheriff’s questions of defendant were reasonably related to the scope of the circumstances that justified the interference … . In response to the deputy sheriff’s first question, defendant offered the obviously false answer that there was nothing in the bag, which contained 61 shirts on hangers. That false answer, combined with the information already obtained by the deputy sheriff, gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that defendant had committed or was committing a crime … . It thus follows that the deputy sheriff acted lawfully in stopping and detaining defendant for investigative purposes. People v Ellison, 2015 NY Slip Op 00015, 4th Dept 1-2-15

 

You might also like
THE MAJORITY HELD THAT DEFENDANT’S FLIGHT PROVIDED REASONABLE SUSPICION OF CRIMINALITY JUSTIFYING PURSUIT IN THIS STREET STOP SCENARIO; THE DISSENT ARGUED FLIGHT ALONE DURING A LEVEL TWO ENCOUNTER DOES NOT JUSTIFY PURSUIT (FOURTH DEPT).
WHERE FATHER RELINQUISHED CUSTODY BY CONSENT, HE NEED NOT MAKE A THRESHOLD SHOWING OF A CHANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE ENTITLED TO A HEARING ON HIS CUSTODY PETITION, NUMEROUS LEGAL AND FACTUAL ERRORS BY THE JUDGE REQUIRED THAT THIS MATTER BE SENT BACK FOR HEARINGS AND RULINGS ON CUSTODY AND VISITATION ISSUES RAISED BY THE FATHER’S PETITION (FOURTH DEPT).
NEGLIGENT HIRING AND SUPERVISION AND PRIMA FACIE TORT CAUSES OF ACTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED, NO ALLEGATION EMPLOYEES WERE ACTING OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT, NO ALLEGATION MALICE WAS DEFENDANT’S SOLE MOTIVATION (FOURTH DEPT).
THE JUDGE IN THIS AGGRAVATED CRUELTY TO ANIMALS CASE SHOULD NOT HAVE REDUCED THE COUNTS IN THE INDICTMENT ABSENT A WRITTEN MOTION OR A WAIVER BY THE PEOPLE; THE EVIDENCE WAS LEGALLY SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE INDICTMENT; THE JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE DETERMINED DEFENDANT COULD NOT HAVE FORMED THE REQUISITE INTENT DUE TO MENTAL DISEASE OR DEFECT; ONLY A JURY CAN MAKE THAT DETERMINATION (FOURTH DEPT).
VERBAL NOTICE TO CITY ABOUT POTHOLES, EVEN IF REDUCED TO WRITING, DOES NOT SATISFY THE WRITTEN NOTICE PREREQUISITE FOR CITY LIABILITY, PLAINTIFF ALLEGED A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY POTHOLES (FOURTH DEPT).
THE DETERIORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FATHER AND MOTHER WAS A SUFFICIENT CHANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES TO WARRANT AN INQUIRY RE: FATHER’S PETITION FOR A MODIFICATION OF CUSTODY; AFTER CONSIDERING THE MERITS, THE APPELLATE COURT AWARDED SOLE CUSTODY TO FATHER (FOURTH DEPT).
Counsel for Nonparty Witness Cannot Participate in Deposition
FOURTEEN YEAR OLD CHILD HAD THE STATUTORY RIGHT TO WAIVE HIS PRESENCE AT THE PERMANENCY HEARING AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO APPEAR, APPEAL HEARD AS AN EXCEPTION TO THE MOOTNESS DOCTRINE (FOURTH DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

Supreme Court Properly Considered Documentary Evidence Re: a Motion to Dismiss... Insufficient Evidence Defendant Shared the Intent of the Seller of Heroin—Conviction...