PEOPLE v. MENDOZA (2008)

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Troy K. Webber, J. on motion;  David Stadtmauer, J. at plea and sentence), rendered June 9, 2006, convicting defendant of promoting prison contraband in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 2 to 4 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied, without a hearing, defendant's motion to suppress contraband that correction officers discovered in his pocket during a search they conducted while defendant was an inmate at Rikers Island, since his factual allegations, even if accepted as true, would not have warranted a conclusion that the search was unreasonable (see CPL 710.60[3] ).   While defendant's allegations may have stated a Fourth Amendment claim in the context of a search of a person at liberty, defendant did not address the diminished Fourth Amendment rights of a prison inmate (see Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 557, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 [1979] ).   The facts alleged in defendant's moving papers did not set forth a basis for suppression, given the prison context (see Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 529, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 [1984];  People v. Frye, 144 A.D.2d 714, 534 N.Y.S.2d 735 [1988], lv. denied 73 N.Y.2d 891, 538 N.Y.S.2d 804, 535 N.E.2d 1344 [1989] ).   We have considered and rejected defendant's remaining arguments.