People v. Denzel L.

Summary

The Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed judgments adjudicating Denzel L. a youthful offender after guilty pleas to criminal possession of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. The court held that the defendant's constitutional challenge under New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen was unpreserved and, in any event, meritless, and upheld probation conditions prohibiting firearm possession and permitting probation searches.

Holdings

1. The defendant's constitutional challenge to the firearm and weapons statutes was unpreserved because he failed to raise the challenge before the Supreme Court.
2. Even if reached on the merits, the defendant's constitutional challenge lacked merit; the statutory scheme was not invalid on its face, and Bruen did not affect the constitutionality of New York's criminal possession of a weapon statutes.
3. The probation conditions prohibiting firearm possession or purchase and requiring consent to probation-officer searches were properly imposed.
4. The sentences imposed were not excessive.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the defendant's constitutional challenge to Penal Law §§ 265.03(3), 265.01-b(1), and 265.01(1), and Administrative Code of the City of New York § 10-131(i)(3), under New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen was preserved for appellate review.
2. Whether the challenged New York firearm and weapons statutes are unconstitutional on their face under Bruen and whether the alleged unconstitutionality rendered the indictments defective.
3. Whether probation conditions prohibiting firearm possession and authorizing probation-officer searches were properly imposed because they were individually tailored to the defendant's weapon-possession offenses and reasonably related to rehabilitation or lawful conduct.
4. Whether the sentences imposed were excessive.

Disposition

affirmed