Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Evelyn Laporte, J.), rendered December 4, 2006, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of criminal possession of marijuana in the fifth degree, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment of conviction (Evelyn Laporte, J.), rendered December 4, 2006, affirmed.

The complaint sufficiently set forth the factual basis for the underlying marijuana possession charge (see Penal Law § 221.10[1]) by alleging, inter alia, that, at a specified time and location, defendant gave money to a "separately charged" (identified) individual in exchange for a "small object" and that police recovered from defendant a plastic bag containing a substance confirmed to be marijuana. The complaint thus contained "facts of an evidentiary character" (CPL 100.15 [3]) demonstrating "reasonable cause" to believe that defendant committed the crime charged (CPL 100.40[4][b]; see Matter of Calvin R., 291 AD2d 346 [2002]; Matter of Michael I., 309 AD2d 598 [2003], lv denied 1 NY3d 508 [2004]; see also People v Graham, 211 AD2d 55 [1995], lv denied 86 NY2d 795 [1995]). Contrary to defendant's present contention, the deponent police officer's sworn statements concerning his observations of the street exchange were sufficient, for pleading purposes, to satisfy the "open to public view" element of the charged crime, and this even without an allegation that the officer recognized the small object exchanged to be marijuana (see Matter of Michael I., 309 AD2d at 599).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: May 21, 2008