People v. Millan

In People v. Millan, 118 AD2d 236, 241, 505 N.Y.S.2d 84 (1st Dep't 1986), rev'd, 69 NY2d 514, 508 NE2d 903, 516 N.Y.S.2d 168 (1987), the Court of Appeals overruled the lower court as to the issue of defendant's standing in that case finding that the defendant had standing to assert a privacy right in the cab in which he was driving. The People's inclusion of that case to support their position in this matter is inexplicable. In Millan, the Court of Appeals held that the People could not simultaneously use the statutory presumption of possession of gun for all occupants of an automobile and, at the same time, deny that the occupants had standing to challenge the search. 69 NY2d at 519-20, 508 NE2d at 906. In People v Millan (69 N.Y.2d 514), the Court of Appeals held that a passenger has standing to contest the stop of the vehicle in which he or she is a passenger. A passenger has standing to object to alleged police misconduct if either the stopping of the car or the removal of the suspect from the car are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Should the passenger come forth with sufficient evidence that such police misconduct occurred, he or she would be entitled to suppression of any evidence found in the vehicle which is the fruit of such illegality (1 LaFave and Israel, Criminal Procedure 9.1, at 726; Milan, 69 N.Y.2d, at 521).