[DOWNLOAD] "People v. Paulette Clarke" by Supreme Court of New York # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People v. Paulette Clarke
- Author : Supreme Court of New York
- Release Date : January 13, 1991
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 64 KB
Description
DECISION & ORDER Contrary to the defendant's contention, the hearing court's determination that probable cause existed
to issue the search warrant on July 26, 1988, was not based on stale information. In support of his application for a search
warrant, the police officer submitted an affidavit which stated that an undercover officer purchased a vial of cocaine for
$30 at the defendant's premises on June 9, 1988. Further, the police officer's affidavit stated that another undercover officer
went to the defendant's premises with an unidentified man who entered the defendant's premises and returned with two plastic
vials of cocaine on July 18, 1988. When combined, the two described drug transactions provided a significant indicia of continuing
criminal activity to allow the issuing justice to conclude that probable cause existed to believe that narcotics were being
kept at the defendant's premises on July 26, 1988 (see, People v Hansen, 38 N.Y.2d 17; People v Hanlon, 36 N.Y.2d 549; People
v Tune, 103 A.D.2d 990; People v Davis, 93 A.D.2d 970; People v Teribury, 91 A.D.2d 815; People v McCants, 59 A.D.2d 999;
People v Freitag, 148 A.D.2d 544). Indeed, we note that probable cause is not to be determined by counting the number of days
between the occurrence of the events relied upon and the issuance of the search warrant. Information may be acted upon as
long as the practicalities dictate that a state of facts existing in the past, which is sufficient to give rise to probable
cause, continues to exist at the time the application for a search warrant is made (see, People v Teribury, supra; United
States v Rahn, 511 F2d 290, cert denied 423 U.S. 825; United States v Brinklow, 560 F2d 1003, cert denied 434 U.S. 1047). We agree with the defendant that the police officer should not have been permitted to testify as to his conversation with
an Assistant District Attorney and the court before the issuance of the search warrant (see, People v Cruz, 100 A.D.2d 882;
People v Brown, 91 A.D.2d 639; People v Tufano, 69 A.D.2d 826). However, we find that the prejudice suffered by the defendant
from the admission of this testimony was minimal and does not constitute reversible error (see, People v Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d
230). The police officer was only permitted to testify as to the general procedure followed to obtain the search warrant,
and not as to the underlying facts and circumstances surrounding its issuance.