People v. Rodriguez

185 A.D.3d 1233

127 N.Y.S.3d 644

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Juan J. RODRIGUEZ, Appellant.

111944

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

Calendar Date: June 11, 2020

Decided and Entered: July 16, 2020

D.J. & J.A. Cirando, PLLC, Syracuse (John A. Cirando of counsel), for appellant.

Mary Pat Donnelly, District Attorney, Troy (George J. Hoffman Jr. of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Egan Jr., J.P., Lynch, Devine, Pritzker and Reynolds Fitzgerald, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Lynch, J. Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Rensselaer County (Young, J.), rendered August 31, 2018, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

Defendant was charged by indictment with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree following the seizure of cocaine and two loaded handguns during a traffic stop from the vehicle he was driving. After a hearing, County Court denied defendant's motion to suppress the evidence seized from the vehicle. Thereafter, defendant pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. He was sentenced in accord with the plea agreement to a prison term of 15 years, with five years of postrelease supervision, for the controlled substance conviction and a concurrent prison term of seven years, with five years of postrelease supervision, for the weapon conviction. Defendant appeals.

In his brief, defendant concedes that the initial traffic stop was authorized due to a traffic infraction. He maintains, however, that the stop was unlawfully prolonged and that the police lacked a lawful basis to request his consent to search the vehicle. A traffic stop effects a limited seizure of a vehicle's occupants and, "to pass constitutional muster, the officer's action in stopping the vehicle must be justified at its inception and the seizure must be reasonably related in scope, including its length, to the circumstances which justified the detention in the first instance" ( People v. Banks, 85 N.Y.2d 558, 562, 626 N.Y.S.2d 986, 650 N.E.2d 833 [1995], cert denied 516 U.S. 868, 116 S.Ct. 187, 133 L.Ed.2d 124 [1995] ).

At the suppression hearing, State Trooper Tyler Moffatt testified that, at approximately 9:37 p.m. on January 31, 2018, he pulled over defendant's vehicle on Interstate 90 in Rensselaer County. Defendant was in the driver's seat with one male passenger and stopped the vehicle alongside a guardrail. When Moffatt approached the driver's side and requested defendant's license, he noticed that defendant "had bloodshot eyes" and "a very low tone of voice." After running a license check, which revealed that defendant was on parole, Moffatt called for backup. Moffatt asked defendant to exit the vehicle to answer some "preliminary questions" before conducting field sobriety tests – which defendant did pass. During this exchange, defendant explained that he was returning to the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County after driving his mother to his brother's house near Holyoke, Massachusetts. Defendant also offered that he had not consumed any alcohol or drugs because he was on parole. Defendant first confirmed that his parole officer knew of his travel plans, but "immediately changed his story" after Moffatt said he would contact the parole officer. In the meantime, State Trooper Matthew Spickler arrived as backup within 10 minutes of the initial stop. When Moffatt asked the passenger to exit the vehicle, he learned that the passenger spoke only Spanish. Moffatt arranged for the passenger to speak by cell phone to State Trooper Francisco Cordero, who spoke Spanish. According to Cordero, the passenger explained that they had dropped a younger female off in Massachusetts.

Based on these inconsistencies, Moffatt asked defendant to consent to a search of his vehicle. Defendant verbally consented and signed a written consent, which was in Spanish as defendant explained that he was able to speak but not read English. During the ensuing search, Moffatt and Spickler first located a spent shell casing and, within about 20 minutes, a concealed compartment containing cocaine and two loaded...