People v. Cook

206 A.D.3d 1236

170 N.Y.S.3d 305

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Bradley COOK, Appellant.

110580

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: April 20, 2022

Decided and Entered: June 16, 2022

Martin J. McGuinness, Saratoga Springs, for appellant.

David J. Clegg, District Attorney, Kingston (Joan Gudesblatt Lamb of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Aarons, J.P., Pritzker, Reynolds Fitzgerald, Ceresia and Fisher, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Fisher, J. Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Williams, J.), rendered May 25, 2018, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of robbery in the third degree.

In September 2017, defendant was charged by indictment with robbery in the third degree in connection with a robbery at a Key Bank in the City of Kingston, Ulster County. The charge arose out of allegations that, in June 2017, defendant handed a bank teller a note that was mostly illegible, except for a portion listing dollar signs and numbers. Believing that the bank was being robbed, the teller handed defendant a sum of money and he then left the bank. Within an hour, defendant was identified by a member of law enforcement who personally knew him, and police "pinged" defendant's cell phone five separate times until he was located. Defendant agreed to go with detectives to the police station where, after being read his Miranda rights, he ultimately admitted to the bank robbery. Thereafter, defendant unsuccessfully moved to suppress evidence of the warrantless "pinging" and the statements he made at the police station, and the matter proceeded to a jury trial where defendant was found guilty as charged and subsequently sentenced to a term of incarceration. Defendant appeals.

Defendant contends that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence. We disagree. When conducting "a weight of the evidence review, this Court must first determine whether, based on all the credible evidence, a different finding would not have been unreasonable and, if not, then weigh the relative probative force of conflicting testimony and the relative strength of conflicting inferences that may be drawn from the testimony to determine if the verdict is supported by the weight of the evidence" ( People v. Marlett, 191 A.D.3d 1183, 1184–1185, 141 N.Y.S.3d 191 [2021] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted], lv denied 37 N.Y.3d 966, 148 N.Y.S.3d 776, 171 N.E.3d 252 [2021] ; see People v. Adams, 201 A.D.3d 1031, 1032, 159 N.Y.S.3d 583 [2022], lvs denied 38 N.Y.3d 948, 953, 165 N.Y.S.3d 439, 440, 185 N.E.3d 960, 961 [2022]). In doing so, "we consider the evidence in a neutral light and defer to the jury's credibility assessments" ( People v. Hansel, 200 A.D.3d 1327, 1328, 159 N.Y.S.3d 560 [2021] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted], lv denied 38 N.Y.3d 927, 164 N.Y.S.3d 27, 184 N.E.3d 848 [2022] ).

As charged here, "[a] person is guilty of robbery in the third degree when he [or she] forcibly steals property" ( Penal Law § 160.05 ). "A person forcibly steals property and commits robbery when, in the course of committing a larceny, he [or she] uses or threatens the immediate use of physical force upon another person for the purpose of ... [p]reventing or overcoming resistance to the taking of the property or to the retention thereof immediately after the taking; or ... [c]ompelling the owner of such property or another person to deliver up the property or to engage in other conduct which aids in the commission of the larceny" ( Penal Law § 160.00[1], [2] ). A person must intend that the threatened use of force "was either to compel his [or her] victim to deliver up property or to prevent or overcome resistance to the taking" ( People v. Smith, 79 N.Y.2d 309, 315, 582 N.Y.S.2d 946, 591 N.E.2d 1132 [1992] ), "which may be implicit from the defendant's conduct or gleaned from a view of the totality of the circumstances" ( People v. Gueye, 200 A.D.3d 1227, 1227, 157 N.Y.S.3d 316 [2021] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted], lv denied 38 N.Y.3d 950, 165 N.Y.S.3d 479, 185 N.E.3d 1000 [2022] ). Since "[t]he element of intent is rarely proved by an explicit expression of culpability by the perpetrator[,] ... competing inferences ... drawn regarding [a person's] intent, if not unreasonable, are the exclusive domain of the finders of fact, not to be disturbed by [this Court]" ( People v. Jones, 202 A.D.3d 1285, 1287, 162 N.Y.S.3d 559 [2022] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see People v. Lamont, 25 N.Y.3d 315, 318–319, 12 N.Y.S.3d 6, 33 N.E.3d 1275 [2015] ; People v. Newell, 148 A.D.3d 1216, 1221, 48 N.Y.S.3d 800 [2017], lv denied 29 N.Y.3d 1035, 62 N.Y.S.3d 304, 84 N.E.3d 976 [2017] ).

At trial, the bank teller testified that a man walked into the bank wearing a ball cap with a sweatshirt hoody over it, thick sunglasses, a camouflage scarf around his mouth area and rubber gloves on his hands with gauze bandages under the gloves and on top of his hands. The man came up to her bank counter and handed her what was mostly an illegible note but had a "money symbol" and numbers on it – causing her to believe that she was being robbed. She testified that she was scared and handed the man money because she was "in fear of not only [herself], [but she] also had three other people in the bank at the time" and she "didn't want anyone to get hurt including [herself]." The man took the money and left the bank.

The People offered the testimony of several Kingston Police Department detectives and officers. Detective Lieutenant Thierry Crozier testified that he arrived at the bank within seven or eight minutes after the incident and accessed the video surveillance footage from the bank. He took a still photograph of the suspect from the bank's surveillance video with his cell phone, and then emailed that photograph to the entire Kingston Police Department for the purpose of trying to identify the suspect. Crozier testified that he received phone calls from two sergeants and one officer positively identifying the suspect as defendant. Patrol Sergeant Richard Negron testified that he called Crozier almost immediately after receiving the email because he has known defendant personally and professionally for six or seven years. Specifically, Negron explained that he played in the same softball league with defendant, where he would see defendant approximately once a week in the summertime. This information was relayed to Detective Eric Van Allen, who subsequently made contact with defendant at a softball park and brought defendant to the police station for an interview. After being read his Miranda rights, defendant admitted that he handed the bank teller a note which requested money and read "no tracers, dye bags, no police, nobody gets hurt." At trial, the People entered into evidence the surveillance footage and the videorecorded interview.

We find that the People presented evidence that established that defendant threatened the use of force to compel the bank teller to deliver up the property and to overcome resistance of the taking of the property, which is implicit from defendant's conduct and when considering the totality of the circumstances (see People v. McDowell, 200 A.D.3d 502, 503, 157 N.Y.S.3d 463 [2021], lv denied 38 N.Y.3d 952, 165 N.Y.S.3d 458, 185 N.E.3d 979 [2022] ; People v. Crawford, 176 A.D.3d 415, 416, 107 N.Y.S.3d 662 [2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 1016, 114 N.Y.S.3d 756, 138 N.E.3d 485 [2019] ; see also People v. Smith, 79 N.Y.2d at 312, 582 N.Y.S.2d 946, 591 N.E.2d 1132 ; People v. Woods, 41 N.Y.2d 279, 282–283, 392 N.Y.S.2d 400, 360 N.E.2d 1082 [1977] ). Although a different verdict would not have been unreasonable had the jury discredited the testimony of the bank teller, when viewing the evidence – including the surveillance video and defendant's admission as to the context of the note – in a neutral light, we find that defendant's conviction for robbery in the third degree is supported by the weight of the evidence (see People v. Jones, 202 A.D.3d at 1289, 162 N.Y.S.3d 559 ; People v. Walker, 191 A.D.3d 1154, 1158, 142 N.Y.S.3d 648 [2021], lv denied 37 N.Y.3d 961, 147 N.Y.S.3d 518, 170 N.E.3d 392 [2021] ).

Next, defendant argues that the warrantless "pinging" of his cell phone was an illegal search and that any statements made to police, after they located him using the cell phone "pinging," should have been suppressed by County Court. Even if defendant was correct that the wireless pinging of his cell phone constituted an illegal search, defendant's statements were sufficiently attenuated and do not require suppression (see People v. Durfey, 170 A.D.3d 1331, 1336, 95 N.Y.S.3d 473 [2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 980, 113 N.Y.S.3d 672, 137 N.E.3d 42 [2019] ; People v. Hill, 153 A.D.3d 413, 418, 60 N.Y.S.3d 23 [2017], affd 33 N.Y.3d 1076, 104 N.Y.S.3d 598, 128 N.E.3d 676 [2019] ; see also People v. Kabia, 197 A.D.3d 788, 789–790, 152 N.Y.S.3d 519 [2021], lv denied 37 N.Y.3d 1162, 160 N.Y.S.3d 702, 181 N.E.3d 1130 [2022] ). Here, information gleaned from the cell phone pings was not exploited during the interview to obtain the statements. Rather, defendant's statements were sufficiently attenuated from the cell phone "pinging" as they were obtained independently through other available evidence already known to police, including from the bank teller and surveillance footage (see People v. Durfey, 170 A.D.3d at 1336, 95 N.Y.S.3d 473 ; People v. Cavanagh, 97 A.D.3d 980, 982, 948 N.Y.S.2d 738 [2012], lv denied 19 N.Y.3d 1101, 955 N.Y.S.2d 557, 979 N.E.2d 818 [2012] ; People v. Roe, 136 A.D.2d 140, 143–144, 525 N.Y.S.2d 966 [1988], affd 73 N.Y.2d 1004, 541 N.Y.S.2d 759, 539 N.E.2d 587 [1989] ). Further, defendant's statements were given hours after he was identified by members of the police department – who previously knew him – and after defendant consented to going to the police station and waived his Miranda rights (see People v....