NY appeals court affirms weapon conviction rejecting illegal stop claims

A state appeals court has affirmed a weapon conviction, after rejecting claims of an illegal traffic stop and a speedy trial violation.

Defendant Ronzell Camber pleaded guilty in January 2022 before state Supreme Court Justice Gordon J. Cuffy, in Syracuse, of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree reckless endangerment

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Fourth Department, unanimously affirmed the convictions.

Camber’s appellate attorney, Veronica Reed, argued Cuffy should have dismissed the indictment because the prosecution’s certificate of compliance was illusory and the court failed to make sufficient inquiry into the prosecution’s actual readiness for trial.

But those issues were unpreserved for appellate review because the defense did not move to dismiss the indictment on those grounds.

Prior to the plea colloquy, Cuffy acknowledged that Camber’s former attorney had prepared, but not filed, a motion seeking dismissal of the indictment on speedy trial grounds.

But Camber’s counsel at the time of the plea confirmed that sufficient discovery had been received, thereby effectively withdrawing any purported motion, according to the decision.

Contrary to Reed’s contention, Cuffy, properly denied a defense motion seeking to suppress physical evidence as the product of an unlawful stop.

Police may stop a vehicle “when there exists at least a reasonable suspicion that the driver or occupants of the vehicle have committed, are committing, or are about to commit a crime,” the court noted.

“A law enforcement officer who reviewed surveillance video of a suspect firing a weapon from a vehicle took note of the make, model, and license plate color of the vehicle, the number of occupants, and details regarding both occupants’ clothing,” according to the decision.

The officer relayed those details to another officer who then stopped the vehicle in which Camber was a passenger, after confirming that the vehicle and its occupants matched that description, according to the decision.

“We therefore conclude that the officer who effected the stop had reasonable suspicion that an occupant of that vehicle had committed a crime,” the court wrote.

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