From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Risden

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Nov 25, 2002
299 A.D.2d 563 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)

Opinion

2000-10852

Submitted October 22, 2002.

November 25, 2002.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Knipel, J.), rendered November 21, 2000, convicting him of murder in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Lisa Napoli of counsel), for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Jodi L. Mandel, and J. Machelle Sweeting of counsel), for respondent.

Before: A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J., MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, REINALDO E. RIVERA, JJ.


DECISION ORDER

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant contends that the People failed to prove his identity as the perpetrator of the crime because the prosecution's witnesses were biased against the defendant and/or the shooting was a shocking event that decreased the reliability of the identifications. The defendant's challenge to the legal sufficiency of the prosecution's evidence is not preserved for appellate review (see CPL 470.05; People v. Gray, 86 N.Y.2d 10, 20-21; People v. Rivera, 275 A.D.2d 802; People v. Golden, 211 A.D.2d 729) . In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Moreover, resolution of issues of credibility, as well as the weight to be accorded to the evidence presented, are primarily questions to be determined by the jury, which saw and heard the witnesses (see People v. Gaimari, 176 N.Y. 84, 94). Its determination should be accorded great weight on appeal and should not be disturbed unless clearly unsupported by the record (see People v. Garafolo, 44 A.D.2d 86, 88). Upon the exercise of our factual review power, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see CPL 470.15).

PRUDENTI, P.J., ALTMAN, FRIEDMANN and RIVERA, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Risden

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Nov 25, 2002
299 A.D.2d 563 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
Case details for

People v. Risden

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., respondent, v. NORMAN RISDEN, appellant

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Nov 25, 2002

Citations

299 A.D.2d 563 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
750 N.Y.S.2d 528

Citing Cases

People v. Stevens

The defendant's contention that the evidence was legally insufficient to establish his identity as the…