[Download] "People State New York v. Benny Martinez" by Court of Appeals of New York " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People State New York v. Benny Martinez
- Author : Court of Appeals of New York
- Release Date : January 28, 1975
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
[37 N.Y.2d 662 Page 664] Defendant's conviction, following a jury verdict, of the crime of felony murder (Penal Law, § 125.25, subd 3) has been affirmed by an unanimous Appellate Division. As we choose to frame it, the dispositive issue presented on this appeal may be posed as follows: did the illegality of the initial stop of the automobile in which defendant was a passenger taint the arrest for illegal possession of a firearm and thus, perforce, the subsequent station house interrogation of the defendant concerning the homicide for which he was ultimately convicted. If this question is answered in the affirmative, the admissions made by him during the interrogation, as well as the incriminating evidence to which those admissions may have led, are subject to the exclusionary rule of Weeks v United States, (232 U.S. 383) (see, also, People v Rodriguez, 11 N.Y.2d 279, 286) held applicable to the States in Mapp v Ohio (367 U.S. 643) and would then have been improperly admitted at trial. We are thus asked to delineate the scope of the exclusionary rule and to define the point at which evidence is sufficiently removed from any questionable police conduct as to survive the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine set forth in Wong Sun v United States (371 U.S. 471, 488). (See, also, People v Robinson, 13 N.Y.2d 296, 301.) On April 1, 1971, defendant was a passenger in an automobile, parked at the curb with its motor running, in front of a liquor store in a high crime area in the Borough of Queens. Sometime after 11:00 a.m., two New York City police officers, Wilson and Quinlan, approached the vehicle and asked the driver for his license and registration. Later, at the hearing on the motion to suppress, Officer Wilson explained that he took such action because he suspected there was possibly something going on in reference to the liquor store. He further stated that the time of day and the dirty and rogue-y appearance of the vehicle's occupants formed the basis of his suspicions. When the driver made what Officer Wilson characterized as a quick motion toward the glove compartment, he [37 N.Y.2d 662 Page 665]