People v Starnes

People v Starnes 2009 NY Slip Op 00125 [58 AD3d 489] January 15, 2009 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Gregory Starnes, Appellant.

—[*1] Richard M. Greenberg, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Rosemary Herbert of counsel), and Bryan Cave, LLP, New York (Rachel E. Barber Schwartz of counsel), for appellant.

Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Edward A. Jayetileke of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.), rendered August 29, 2006, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fourth degrees, and unlawful possession of marijuana, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender whose prior felony conviction was a violent felony, to an aggregate term of six years and a fine of $50, unanimously affirmed.

The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 348-349 [2007]). There is no basis for disturbing the jury's determinations concerning credibility, including its evaluation of minor discrepancies in the accounts of the People's witnesses, and its rejection of defendant's account of how he came into possession of a bag containing a supply of drugs. Concur—Tom, J.P., Gonzalez, Buckley, Sweeny and Catterson, JJ.