53 A.D.2d 802 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1976
Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Cortland County, rendered December 31, 1975, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crime of attempted burglary in the third degree and sentencing him to an indeterminate term of imprisonment not to exceed four years. On June 17, 1975, Lieutenant Thomas Crane of the Cortland County Sheriff’s Department investigated a complaint from Elwyn Barber of Route 41 in the Town of Scott that his tool shed had been burglarized and tools valued at approximately $300 had been taken therefrom. Subsequently, on August 14, 1975, when the Lieutenant went to the defendant’s apartment in the City of Cortland to arrest him on an unrelated criminal matter, he observed a pair of needle-nose pliers with red plastic handles similar to those described by Barber as having been stolen. He proceeded to arrest defendant and then permitted him to lock the doors of his nearby pick-up truck, at which time the officer noticed in the truck a tool box and a set of sockets resembling items on Barber’s list of stolen goods. Having previously been informed by Barber that defendant had been seen in the vicinity of the tool shed shortly before the alleged burglary, the officer next obtained a search warrant for defendant’s apartment and truck based upon all of the foregoing information. That same day, August 14, 1975, the warrant was executed, and the numerous items seized were later identified by Barber as being the missing property. As a result, defendant was indicted for the crimes of burglary in the third degree, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree. Following the denial of his motion to suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the warrant, defendant entered a plea of guilty to the crime of attempted burglary in the third degree in full satisfaction of the indictment on December 1, 1975. On this appeal, defendant initially contends that the search warrant application and supporting deposition were based on stale information and collectively failed to provide reasonable cause for the issuance of the warrant. We disagree. Plainly, the warrant was not issued on stale information since the central