Opinion
June 24, 1996
Appeal from the Family Court, Kings County (McLeod, J.).
Ordered that the order of disposition is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
After a hearing, the appellant was found to have acted as a lookout for a friend who stole a cellular telephone from the complainant's car after breaking its front passenger-side window with his fist. As a result, the Family Court determined that the appellant was an accomplice and adjudicated him a juvenile delinquent. On appeal, the appellant contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to establish that he acted as an accomplice. We disagree.
A person's mere presence at the scene of the crime, even with knowledge of its perpetration, cannot render him or her accessorially liable for the underlying criminal conduct ( see, People v. Strawder, 124 A.D.2d 758, 759; People v. Reyes, 82 A.D.2d 925). In this case, however, when viewed in the light most favorable to the presentment agency ( see, People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620; Matter of Jamal C., 186 A.D.2d 562, 563), the evidence was legally sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant acted as a lookout for, and therefore as an accomplice of, his friend ( see, People v. Roldan, 211 A.D.2d 366, affd 88 N.Y.2d 826; People v. Wooten, 214 A.D.2d 596; People v Vallejo, 173 A.D.2d 880, lv denied 78 N.Y.2d 1015). Further, the Family Court's determination in this regard was not against the weight of the evidence ( see, CPL 470.15). Rosenblatt, J.P., Sullivan, Copertino, Santucci and Goldstein, JJ., concur.