PEOPLE v. HILL (2019)

OPINION OF THE COURT

 MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.  We conclude that, on this record, there is no basis to disturb the suppression determination.  Contrary to the dissent, the Appellate Division did not run afoul of our decision in People v. Lafontaine, 92 N.Y.2d 470, 682 N.Y.S.2d 671, 705 N.E.2d 663 (1998) or its progeny (see People v. Nicholson, 26 N.Y.3d 813, 826, 28 N.Y.S.3d 663, 48 N.E.3d 944 [2016] ).

I would reverse the order of the Appellate Division and remit the matter to Supreme Court for further proceedings.

Defendant challenges the Appellate Division's determination of the question whether the illegal search of his belongings impermissibly tainted the subsequent searches of a vehicle and of the apartment where defendant resided.  Defendant preserved this issue at Supreme Court, but that court, which held that defendant lacked standing to challenge the later searches, did not rule on the question.  Nevertheless, the Appellate Division, in affirming Supreme Court's order, explicitly reached the issue.  In doing so, the Appellate Division exceeded its jurisdiction.

CPL 470.15(1), as interpreted by this Court, precludes the Appellate Division, in reviewing a judgment, sentence, or order of a trial-level criminal court, from considering an issue that was “not decided adversely to the appellant by the trial court” (People v. Concepcion, 17 N.Y.3d 192, 195, 929 N.Y.S.2d 541, 953 N.E.2d 779 [2011];  see People v. LaFontaine, 92 N.Y.2d 470, 682 N.Y.S.2d 671, 705 N.E.2d 663 (1998).  The statute is “a legislative restriction on the Appellate Division's power to review issues either decided in an appellant's favor, or not ruled upon, by the trial court” (LaFontaine, 92 N.Y.2d at 474, 682 N.Y.S.2d 671, 705 N.E.2d 663).  Moreover, in an appeal from an Appellate Division affirmance, CPL 470.35(1) grants this Court no broader power than that of the Appellate Division (see Concepcion, 17 N.Y.3d at 195, 929 N.Y.S.2d 541, 953 N.E.2d 779;  LaFontaine, 92 N.Y.2d at 474, 682 N.Y.S.2d 671, 705 N.E.2d 663).  Here, the issue on which defendant seeks reversal was decided by the Appellate Division in violation of CPL 470.15(1), and our precedents prohibit us from affirming.  We are obliged to reverse and remit to Supreme Court (see People v. Ingram, 18 N.Y.3d 948, 949, 944 N.Y.S.2d 470, 967 N.E.2d 695 [2012] ).

In discussing CPL 470.15(1) in People v. Nicholson, 26 N.Y.3d 813, 28 N.Y.S.3d 663, 48 N.E.3d 944 [2016] ), we drew a contrast between two types of appeal.  In one category, the “trial court does not identify the predicate for its ruling” and the Appellate Division “consider[s] the record ․ to understand the context of the trial court's ultimate determination,” ultimately affirming on that ground (id. at 825, 28 N.Y.S.3d 663, 48 N.E.3d 944).  In the other type, the trial court identifies the rationales for its ruling and nevertheless the Appellate Division “renders a decision on grounds explicitly different from those of the trial court, or on grounds that were clearly resolved in a defendant's favor” (id. at 826, 28 N.Y.S.3d 663, 48 N.E.3d 944).  We explained that the latter situation is “the type of appellate overreaching prohibited by CPL 470.15(1)” (id., citing Concepcion, 17 N.Y.3d at 195, 929 N.Y.S.2d 541, 953 N.E.2d 779).  “[W]here the trial court's decision is fully articulated the Appellate Division's review is limited to those grounds” (id.).

The present case clearly falls into the category where the trial court's decision has discrete sections enabling an appellate court to discern which issues it has considered and decided, and yet the Appellate Division reviewed an issue that the trial court had not decided adversely to defendant, offering “an entirely distinct alternative ground for affirmance” (People v. Garrett, 23 N.Y.3d 878, 885, n 2, 994 N.Y.S.2d 22, 18 N.E.3d 722 [2014] ).  If a suppression court writes a “fully articulated” decision adverse to a defendant (Nicholson, 26 N.Y.3d at 826, 28 N.Y.S.3d 663, 48 N.E.3d 944), but omits discussion of a particular issue raised by the defendant, our law mandates that an appellate court cannot resolve the issue and must remit.  Whether our interpretation of CPL 470.15(1), in LaFontaine and its progeny, is “undesirable from a policy point of view” (Concepcion, 17 N.Y.3d at 202, 929 N.Y.S.2d 541, 953 N.E.2d 779 [Smith, J., dissenting] ) is a question for another day.  LaFontaine is the law and, until such time as that precedent is overruled, “we are constrained by that decision, and ․ cannot be arbitrary in applying it” (People v. Fernandez, 20 N.Y.3d 44, 58, 956 N.Y.S.2d 443, 980 N.E.2d 491 [2012] [Pigott, J., dissenting] ).

On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.11 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.11), order affirmed, in a memorandum.