People v Tuck
2008 NY Slip Op 07756 [55 AD3d 369]
October 14, 2008
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, December 10, 2008


The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Patrick Tuck, Appellant.

[*1] Richard M. Weinstein, New York, for appellant.

Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Justin J. Braun of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Ethan Greenberg, J., at suppression hearing; Barbara F. Newman, J., at jury trial and sentence), rendered July 13, 2006, convicting defendant of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 3½ to 7 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. There is no basis for disturbing the court's credibility determinations, which are supported by the record (see People v Prochilo, 41 NY2d 759, 761 [1977]). The hearing evidence established that the police properly stopped defendant's vehicle after he committed a traffic violation (see People v Robinson, 97 NY2d 341 [2001]), and that the ensuing police conduct was entirely lawful.

Defendant's challenge to the court's jury charge on the automobile presumption (Penal Law § 220.25 [1]) is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we also reject it on the merits. This instruction was appropriate in light of the defense contentions (see People v Spann, 56 NY2d 469 [1982]).

Defendant's challenge to his second felony offender adjudication is without merit. Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Friedman, Nardelli, Williams and Freedman, JJ.