The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Gil SCOTT-HERON, Defendant-Appellant.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J.), rendered October 29, 2001, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and sentencing him to a term of 1 to 3 years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. The experienced narcotics detective had probable cause to arrest defendant when, in a drug-prone location, he observed defendant receive what appeared to be a tinfoil packet (see People v. Jones, 90 N.Y.2d 835, 660 N.Y.S.2d 549, 683 N.E.2d 14 [1997]; People v. McRay, 51 N.Y.2d 594, 435 N.Y.S.2d 679, 416 N.E.2d 1015 [1980] ). In any event, these observations at least entitled the detective to make a common-law inquiry, and defendant's patently false responses to the detective's initial questions clearly raised the level of suspicion to probable cause.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.