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
Prior Stipulation Based Upon Inaccurate Information Properly Vacated
FAILURE TO PLACE ON THE RECORD THE REASONS FOR REQUIRING DEFENDANT TO WEAR A STUNBELT DURING TRIAL, AND FAILURE TO APPRISE DEFENSE COUNSEL OF THE CONTENTS OF A JURY NOTE, REQUIRED REVERSAL.
QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER TOWN EASEMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO THE PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE SUCH THAT THE LAND CANNOT BE CONVEYED TO A DEVELOPER WITHOUT LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL; OPEN MEETINGS LAW WAS NOT VIOLATED BY POSTING RELEVANT DOCUMENTS ONLY SEVEN HOURS BEFORE THE TOWN MEETING (FOURTH DEPT).
Failure to Appeal Dismissal of Underlying Medical Malpractice Action Did Not Preclude Related Legal Malpractice Action
DEFENDANT’S HOME WAS CONSTRUCTED ABOUT EIGHT FEET FROM THE PROPERTY LINE VIOLATING THE COVENANT OR RESTRICTION REQUIRING TEN FEET; PLAINTIFF, AFTER A BALANCING OF THE EQUITIES, WAS NOT, HOWEVER, ENTITLED TO EQUITABLE RELIEF (FOURTH DEPT).
NO SHOWING RUG OVER WHICH PLAINTIFF TRIPPED WAS NOT FLUSH TO THE FLOOR, HEIGHT DIFFERENTIAL WAS TRIVIAL, DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED.
Plaintiff’s Labor Law 240 and 200 Actions Against the Town Should Have Been Dismissed—Although the Town Hired Plaintiff to Do Work on the Town’s Right of Way, the Accident Occurred on Adjacent Private Property—Labor Law 200 Action Against the Property Owners Should Not Have Been Dismissed
THE DEFENDANT’S STATEMENTS MADE TO A CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES CASEWORKER SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED; THE CASEWORKER, UNDER THE FACTS, ACTED AS AN AGENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT DURING THE INTERVIEW (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 © 2025 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

Supreme Court Properly Considered Documentary Evidence Re: a Motion to Dismiss... Even If Initial Frisk of Defendant Was Unlawful, the Defendant’s Pushing...