People v. Rivera
Opinion of the Court
—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Laura Drager, J., at suppression hearing; John Cataldo, J., at jury trial and sentence), rendered August 2, 2000, convicting defendant of grand larceny in the second degree and attempted grand larceny in the second degree and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 6 to 12 years and 3 to 6 years, respectively, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant’s suppression motion. Rather than being “obtained” by the police in any manner, the statements at issue were entirely spontaneous. The detective did not ask defendant any questions, or do anything that could be considered the functional equivalent of interrogation, and at one point he warned defendant that he should stop talking about the case. The police are not required “to take affirmative steps, by gag or otherwise, to prevent a talkative person in custody from making an incriminating statement” (People v Rivers, 56 NY2d 476, 479 [1982]).
After sufficient inquiry and opportunity for defendant to be heard, the court properly admitted evidence of a prior bad act on the ground that defendant had opened the door to this evidence (see People v Rojas, 97 NY2d 32 [2001]).
Defendant’s remaining contentions are unpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would reject them. Concur — Nardelli, J.P., Andrias, Saxe, Williams and Friedman, JJ.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.