The First Department determined defendant was not in custody at the time he made statements, despite the presence of several police officers and one officer’s expectation that defendant would be arrested. Therefore defendant’s motion to suppress the statements was properly denied:
Although several officers were present, they did not have their guns drawn, did not handcuff or restrain defendant in any way, and did not otherwise create a coercive or police-dominated atmosphere … . A reasonable innocent person in defendant’s position would not have thought that he was in custody … , but rather “that the police were still in the process of gathering information about the alleged incident prior to taking any action” … . The officer’s expectation that defendant would be arrested, based on the victim’s complaint, was not conveyed to defendant. “A policeman’s unarticulated plan has no bearing on the question whether a suspect was in custody’ at a particular time; the only relevant inquiry is how a reasonable man in the suspect’s position would have understood his situation” … . People v Clarke, 2018 NY Slip Op 00472, First Dept 1-25-18
CRIMINAL LAW (CUSTODY, SUPPRESSION OF STATEMENT, POLICE OFFICER’S EXPECTATION THAT DEFENDANT WOULD BE ARRESTED DID NOT HAVE ANY BEARING ON WHETHER DEFENDANT WAS IN CUSTODY, MOTION TO SUPPRESS STATEMENT PROPERLY DENIED (FIRST DEPT))/CUSTODY (CRIMINAL LAW, SUPPRESSION OF STATEMENT, POLICE OFFICER’S EXPECTATION THAT DEFENDANT WOULD BE ARRESTED DID NOT HAVE ANY BEARING ON WHETHER DEFENDANT WAS IN CUSTODY, MOTION TO SUPPRESS STATEMENT PROPERLY DENIED (FIRST DEPT))/SUPPRESS, MOTION TO (CRIMINAL LAW, STATEMENT, CUSTODY, POLICE OFFICER’S EXPECTATION THAT DEFENDANT WOULD BE ARRESTED DID NOT HAVE ANY BEARING ON WHETHER DEFENDANT WAS IN CUSTODY, MOTION TO SUPPRESS STATEMENT PROPERLY DENIED (FIRST DEPT))