Filed Date: 5/26/1992
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/31/2024
— In juvenile delinquency proceedings pursuant to Family Court Act article 3, the appeal is from an order of disposition of the Family Court, Westchester County (Bellantoni, J.), entered January 3, 1991, which, upon a fact-finding order of the same court dated November 30, 1990, made after a hearing, finding that the appellant had committed acts which, if committed by an adult, would have constituted the crimes of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree (two counts), and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, adjudged him to be a juvenile delinquent and imposed consecutive terms of 12 months probation on each petition.
Ordered that the dispositional order is reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, the fact-finding order is vacated, and the petitions are dismissed.
On or about October 5, 1990, the presentment agency filed petitions charging the respondent with two unrelated incidents of criminal possession of a controlled substance. The first petition alleged that the appellant unlawfully possessed 14 vials of crack cocaine, which act, if committed by an adult, would have constituted the crime of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree. The second petition alleged that the appellant unlawfully possessed 36 vials of crack cocaine while at the Volunteers of America Runaway Shelter, which act, if committed by an adult, would have constituted the crimes of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
Additionally, viewing the evidence adduced at the fact-finding hearing in a light most favorable to the presentment agency (see, Matter of David H., 69 NY2d 792; People v Contes, 60 NY2d 620), we find it was legally insufficient to establish the appellant’s guilt of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree alleged in the second petition. The only evidence linking the appellant to the vials of crack cocaine was his presence in the kitchen of the Volunteers of America Runaway Shelter where a single vial was found on the floor. "This evidence was not sufficient to establish that the [appellant] exercised the dominion and
Based on the foregoing, it is unnecessary to reach the appellant’s remaining contentions.
However, we note that the court erred in refusing to conduct a suppression hearing prior to the commencement of the fact-finding hearing in light of the appellant’s objection to simultaneous hearings (see, Family Ct Act § 330.2 [3]). Mangano, P. J., Sullivan, Harwood and Pizzuto, JJ., concur.