By YANCEY ROY
ALBANY — The Pythagorean theorem, a lesson learned in high school geometry,
sank James Robbins' bid to overturn a conviction for selling drugs in a school
zone.
New York's highest court yesterday upheld Robbins' conviction for selling
drugs within 1,000 feet of a midtown Manhattan grade school. To do so, the
Court of Appeals ruled that authorities were correct to measure the distance in
the straightest possible line.
Robbins was arrested in March 2002, accused of selling crack to an
undercover officer about three blocks from a Catholic school on 43rd Street.
State law does not specify whether the distance from a school is to be measured
"as the crow flies" or as a pedestrian would have to travel. Asking
for a lighter sentence, Robbins argued that because "crows do not sell
drugs," the pedestrian route should be the rule of thumb.
Because buildings stand in the way from the school to the arrest site on
40th Street, the shortest distance by foot is 1,091 feet. But the trial judge
allowed prosecutors to use geometry, specifically a right triangle, to
determine the distance. A detective measured the distance from 40th Street to
43rd Street, then from 43rd Street to the school, then applied the Pythagorean
theorem to come up with the hypotenuse — or the shortest possible line from the
school to Robbins. The cop's answer: 907 feet.
Robbins was convicted and sentenced to six to 12 years in state prison. The
Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in a 7-0 decision.
(Original
publication: November 23, 2005) |