People v Jones

People v Jones 2012 NY Slip Op 07410 Decided on November 8, 2012 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on November 8, 2012
Mazzarelli, J.P., Friedman, Catterson, Renwick, Freedman, JJ.
8449 5224/07 86/05

[*1]The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Maleek Jones, Defendant-Appellant.




Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Paul Wiener
of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Britta
Gilmore of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.), rendered April 12, 2005, as amended July 10, 2005, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender whose prior felony conviction was a violent felony, to a term of 25 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's legal sufficiency claim is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that the verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence. We also find that 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 credibility determinations. The evidence supports the conclusion that defendant was the source of a package of cocaine that the police found in the vicinity of defendant's struggle with an officer.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: NOVEMBER 8, 2012, p.m.

CLERK