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TWO PRIOR POSSESSION OF A WEAPON INCIDENTS IN 2006 AND 2007, WHERE DEFENDANT CLAIMED THE WEAPONS BELONGED TO ANOTHER AND HE WAS UNAWARE OF THEIR PRESENCE, SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED UNDER MOLINEUX IN THIS 2017 POSSESSION OF A WEAPON PROSECUTION, WHERE DEFENDANT CLAIMED THEY WERE PLACED IN THE VEHICLE BY ANOTHER WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE; THERE WAS A CONCURRENCE AND A THREE-JUDGE DISSENT (CT APP). ​

The Court of Appeals, reversing the Appellate Division, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Halligan, over a concurrence and a three-judge dissent, determined evidence of two prior possession-of-a-weapon incidents in 2006 and 2007, one uncharged and one misdemeanor, should not have been admitted under Molineux in the instant 2017 weapons-possession prosecution. In the 2006 and 2007 cases, defendant claimed the weapons belonged to another and he wasn’t aware of their presence. In the 2017 case defendant claimed someone else put the weapons in his vehicle without his knowledge. The weapons were legally purchased and registered to the defendant in Florida:

During an inventory search, the police recovered various items, including two small bags of marijuana and cash. They also found a loaded .45 caliber gun in the truck’s center console, as well as three handguns and ammunition in the flatbed area; each firearm was legally purchased and registered in Telfair’s name in Florida. The defendant was charged with several crimes related to possession of weapons and ammunition, as well as various vehicle and traffic violations.

The People moved under People v Molineux, 168 NY 264 (1901) to introduce evidence of two prior incidents involving Telfair’s possession of a weapon: a 2006 uncharged crime and a 2007 misdemeanor conviction for weapon possession. The People expected that Telfair would claim at trial that someone else had packed his truck and unbeknownst to him, placed his guns inside it, and the prior acts would show the defendant actually knew he possessed the firearms on the day of his arrest. Defense counsel responded that given the temporal remoteness and dissimilarity of the prior incidents, they had “little, if any, probative value” and were highly prejudicial, in part because the 2007 conviction concerned the same charge for which Telfair was now on trial. When asked whether he would assert that Telfair did not know the guns were in his car, defense counsel did not disclaim the defense. * * *

The 2006 and 2007 incidents were neither very similar nor close in time to the 2017 incident. Just the opposite: they involved different guns, different sets of circumstances, different excuses, and occurred more than 10 years earlier. People v Telfair, 2023 NY Slip Op 05965, CtApp 11-21-23

Practice Point: This case must be read carefully and repeatedly, as it illustrates subtle but profoundly important restrictions on the admissibility of Molineux evidence.

 

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