The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James Kelly, Defendant–Appellant. (2015)

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Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Barbara F. Newman, J.), rendered on February 14, 2013, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 31/212 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's suppression motion was properly denied.   The totality of circumstances supports the court's finding of abandonment (see People v. Murray, 256 A.D.2d 116 [1st Dept 1998], lv denied 92 N.Y.2d 1052 [1999] ).   The police had information that a man meeting defendant's description had a firearm in a black bag.   As the police arrived at the scene, defendant looked at the uniformed officers, turned and walked into a store, where he immediately placed the black bag he was carrying on a countertop and then turned and walked away from it toward the store's exit, leaving his bag visible and unattended in a publicly accessible area.   These circumstances supported the inference that defendant intended to divest himself of the bag in order to avoid being caught in possession of the pistol contained in the bag and ultimately found by the police.   Accordingly, defendant gave up his expectation of privacy in the bag.

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CLERK