Opinion
01-10-2017
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Antjuan PRINCE, Defendant–Appellant.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Jonathan Garelick of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Casey K. Lee of counsel), for respondent.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Jonathan Garelick of counsel), for appellant.Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Casey K. Lee of counsel), for respondent.
ANDRIAS, J.P., MOSKOWITZ, KAPNICK, WEBBER, KAHN, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Roger S. Hayes, J.), rendered May 27, 2014, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 2 ½ to 5 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 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ). There is no basis for disturbing the jury's credibility determinations. The chain of circumstances surrounding defendant's use of a fraudulent gift card, which had been altered so that a third party would be billed for the transaction, supported the inference that defendant knew it was forged (see e.g. People v. Credel, 99 A.D.3d 541, 952 N.Y.S.2d 174 [1st Dept.2012]lv. denied 20 N.Y.3d 1060, 962 N.Y.S.2d 611, 985 N.E.2d 921 [2013] ; People v. Price, 16 A.D.3d 323, 792 N.Y.S.2d 68 [1st Dept.2005], lv. denied 5 N.Y.3d 767, 801 N.Y.S.2d 262, 834 N.E.2d 1272 [2005] ). In two transactions observed by plainclothes police officers, defendant engaged in a pattern of suspicious behavior evincing scienter and consciousness of guilt.