PEOPLE v. WHITTLE (2008)

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Donnino, J.), rendered January 18, 2007, convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence.  The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing (LaPera, J.), of that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

 The People satisfied their burden of establishing that the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant because the informants had a sufficient basis for the statements they made to the police and were reliable (see Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637;  Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723;  People v. Bryant, 8 N.Y.3d 530, 534 n. 2, 838 N.Y.S.2d 7, 869 N.E.2d 7;  People v. DiFalco, 80 N.Y.2d 693, 697 n. 1, 594 N.Y.S.2d 679, 610 N.E.2d 352;  People v. Bigelow, 66 N.Y.2d 417, 424–426, 497 N.Y.S.2d 630, 488 N.E.2d 451;  People v. Nabarrete, 18 A.D.3d 782, 782–783, 794 N.Y.S.2d 917;  People v. Rios, 11 A.D.3d 641, 782 N.Y.S.2d 863).  Moreover, after detaining the defendant, the police had probable cause to believe that the gun he was accused of brandishing was located inside the car he had been operating and, therefore, the warrantless search of the vehicle in question was proper (see People v. Belton, 55 N.Y.2d 49, 447 N.Y.S.2d 873, 432 N.E.2d 745;  People v. Govantes, 297 A.D.2d 551, 748 N.Y.S.2d 1).  Accordingly, the hearing court properly denied that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence.