Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree, otherwise known as Fourth Degree Weapon Possession, is a fairly common misdemeanor arrest charge throughout the boroughs of New York City and the rest of New York State. Beyond an arrest for NY PL 265.01, the police can issue a NYC Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT) or a pink summons for other knife or weapon based violations and crimes. One routine way in which New York weapon possession lawyers and criminal defense attorneys see arrests for Criminal Possession of a Weapon and crimes relating to New York Penal Law 265.01, is where an officer claims he or she sees a “clip” partially inside and outside an arrestee’s pant pocket. This observation gives the New York City Police Officer who ultimately makes the arrest for weapon possession (gravity knife, switchblade, etc.) the grounds to approach the arrestee and investigate further.
As frustrating as it may be when you are the target or subject of such an NY PL 265.01 arrest, Desk Appearance Ticket or summons in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, etc., what if no clip is evident? What if there is no bulge outlining what appears to be a knife – switchblade, gravity or otherwise – in your pocket? This blog entry will address a recent Bronx criminal court decision addressing whether or not a court will suppress a weapon recovered by the police where the basis of the recovery is not due to observations of that weapon, but secondary to disorderly behavior of the arrestee. In more legal terms and as stated by the Court, the issue is “whether the stop, question and frisk search violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States constitution and Article 1, [section] 12 of the State Constitution when the activity initiating the frisk is a violation.”