People v Karaga (Alpha)

[*1] People v Karaga (Alpha) 2014 NY Slip Op 51437(U) Decided on October 1, 2014 Appellate Term, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on October 1, 2014
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, FIRST DEPARTMENT
PRESENT: Shulman, J.P., Hunter, Jr., Ling-Cohan, JJ.
570266/12

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

Alpha Karaga, Defendant-Appellant.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Larry R.C. Stephen, J.), rendered February 21 2012, after a nonjury trial, convicting him of unlicensed general vending, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment (Larry R.C. Stephen, J.), rendered February 21, 2012, affirmed.

Defendant's conviction of unlicensed general vending (see Administrative Code of City of NY § 20-453) was supported by legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence, which showed, inter alia, that defendant, in a public space and without the requisite license, displayed and offered for sale approximately 15 containers of shea butter, and that defendant sold at least one of the containers to a passerby in the arresting officer's presence.

We reject, as did Criminal Court, defendant's contention that his vending of the containers of shea butter - which bore labels emphasizing the practical uses of shea butter without mention of any religious or spiritual message - was constitutionally protected expression. While it may be, as defendant explained in his testimony, that the use of shea butter can take on religious significance in his native Gambia, the containers of shea butter here involved were "not in themselves communicative" (Iskon v Kennedy, 61 F3d 949, 961 [DC Cir 1994]) and there is no indication that their street-side sale was an expressive activity that was "inextricably intertwined" with any religious message (Al-Amin v City of New York, 979 F Supp 168, 173 [ED NY 1997]; see People v Lam, 21 NY3d 958 [2013]; see also Hunt v City of Los Angeles, 638 F3d 703, 716-717 [9th Cir 2011]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.

I concur I concur I concur
Decision Date: October 01, 2014