People v. Elmore
Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; February 6, 1997; New York; State Appellate Court
Judgment affirmed unanimously. The defendant argued that the Supreme Court incorrectly denied his motion to suppress evidence due to a lack of probable cause for his arrest. The court found otherwise. The arresting officer had received a radio report about an armed robbery at a jewelry store, followed by another report of two black men possibly possessing stolen jewelry, who fled from a Rochester store in a tan Mazda matching the vehicle observed by the officer shortly thereafter. The officer pursued the vehicle, which was driven by the defendant, who accelerated and attempted to evade capture. After a brief chase, the defendant stopped in a residential area, where the officer, noticing jewelry inside the vehicle, arrested both the defendant and his passenger. The court determined that the information from the radio reports provided reasonable suspicion to justify the vehicle stop, which escalated to probable cause when the defendant failed to stop for police signals. The court cited precedents affirming that it was more probable than not a crime had occurred and that the defendant was involved. Additionally, the defendant claimed that the supplemental jury charge on accomplice liability was prejudicial, but this argument was deemed unpreserved due to the lack of objection at trial. The charge was found to accurately convey the law and addressed the jurors' inquiry. The court also upheld the jury instructions regarding flight, noting that while it didn't explicitly state the limited value of flight evidence, it did acknowledge that flight could have innocent explanations. The evidence presented at trial was deemed sufficient to support convictions for first-degree robbery and third and fourth-degree grand larceny, and the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence. Other arguments raised by the defendant were found to lack merit.