In People v. Martinez-Gonzalez, [KA 17-01095] the Appellate Division Fourth Department reversed the Fifth District Supreme Court, suppressed heroin and cocaine found on the defendant, and dismissed the relative counts of the indictment. Police on a stake out at a suspected location of drug sal
es observed what was believed to be customers entering and exiting the back yard of a residence and also observed the target come to the front yard and return after smoking a cigarette. When the defendant left the residence as a passenger in a vehicle the police radioed a "take-down" car to stop the vehicle for further investigation. Upon their attempt to do so the defendant jumped out of the car and ran back inside his residence where he was found in possession of heroin and cocaine. The Fourth Department ruled that although police had a "reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot" which would permit a common-law inquiry, the evidence did not support the forcible seizure of the defendant since his behavior was otherwise innocuous.
Commentaires