People v Vega

People v Vega 2015 NY Slip Op 05134 Decided on June 16, 2015 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 June 16, 2015
Acosta, J.P., Renwick, Moskowitz, Manzanet-Daniels, Feinman, JJ.
15459 791/10

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

v

Reynel Vega, Defendant-Appellant.

Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Mitchell J. Briskey of counsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Patricia Curran of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, J.), rendered March 21, 2011, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 3½ 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 reject it on the merits. 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 combination of eyewitness testimony and a videotape support the conclusion that defendant possessed a pistol, which he deposited in a hiding place where the police found it. The absence of defendant's fingerprints or DNA on the weapon was satisfactorily explained by the People's expert witnesses.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: JUNE 16, 2015

CLERK