Frankel v. New York City Transit Authority

Dec 3, 2015
16284 152230/13
Versions:134 A.D.3d 440
19 N.Y.S.3d 739

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ruth Pickholz, J.), rendered February 23, 2012, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of burglary in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 2 to 4 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant’s suppression motion. Although defendant was in custody and had not yet received Miranda warnings, his inquiry about why he was being charged with a felony was “immediately met by a brief and relatively innocuous answer by the police officer,” not constituting interrogation or its functional equivalent (People v Rivers, 56 NY2d 476, 480 [1982]; compare People v Lanahan, 55 NY2d 711 [1981] [detailed recital of evidence held equivalent to interrogation]). Under these circumstances, defendant’s inculpatory statement was self-generated and spontaneous. Concur —Tom, J.P., Sweeny, Andrias and Gische, JJ.