eBook details
- Title: People State New York v. Ronald R. Buffardi
- Author : Supreme Court of New York
- Release Date : January 14, 1983
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 58 KB
Description
Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County (Vitale, J.), rendered August 6, 1981, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence. The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of so much of defendant's pretrial omnibus motion as sought suppression of physical evidence and oral statements. Judgment reversed, on the law and the facts, plea vacated, motion insofar as it sought suppression of his oral statements to the police, and the cards and other papers seized from his person granted, motion otherwise denied, and matter remitted to the County Court, Nassau County, for further proceedings consistent herewith. The defendant was indicted for two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. Defendant moved, inter alia, to suppress certain physical evidence and statements he gave to the police, upon the ground that they were the fruits of an unlawful arrest made without probable cause. After a hearing, suppression was denied and thereafter defendant entered a plea of guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree in satisfaction of the indictment. Defendant now appeals from the judgment of conviction entered on that plea, contending that suppression should have been granted. The following facts were elicited at the hearing: On July 14, 1980, at approximately 8:10 p.m., a white 1978 Oldsmobile arrived at the Howard Johnson's parking lot in Plainview. The car was driven by Diane Bereche, the 21-year-old co-defendant. Ronald Buffardi was in the front passenger seat. A second car, a blue Corvette, driven by Salvatore Buffardi, the brother of the defendant, followed the Oldsmobile into the parking lot. Earlier, in a telephone conversation, Diane Bereche had agreed to meet Officer Donald Giglio, who was then acting in an undercover capacity, at the Howard Johnson's to sell him 18 ounces of cocaine for approximately $27,000. The sale was arranged as a ""two package deal"". Bereche would sell nine ounces to Giglio and would have the second package no more than five minutes away. Officer Giglio informed the surveillance team, which included Officer Benner and Sergeant Hughes, of the arrangements. However, the only information transferred was the outline of the transaction and Bereche's name. There was no testimony presented at the hearing to show that Officer Giglio gave his fellow officers descriptions of Bereche, her partners or the cars which would be involved. It was agreed that