Opinion
No. 570634/17
04-15-2024
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Charles Cassis, Defendant-Appellant.
Unpublished Opinion
Present: Hagler, P.J., Brigantti, Perez, JJ.
PER CURIAM
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Guy H. Mitchell, J.), rendered September 18, 2017, convicting him, after a nonjury trial, of sexual abuse in the third degree, and imposing sentence.
Judgment of conviction (Guy H. Mitchell, J.), rendered September 18, 2017, affirmed.
The verdict convicting defendant of third-degree sexual abuse (see Penal Law § 130.55) was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342 [2007]), which showed that defendant followed a woman onto a subway car, stood behind her and repeatedly thrust his groin into her buttocks. There is no basis for disturbing the court's determinations concerning credibility in which it credited the testimony of the plainclothes police officer who witnessed the incident and rejected defendant's testimony (see People v Ramos, 166 A.D.3d 442 [2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 1177 [2019]). The fact that defendant was acquitted of other charges does not warrant a different conclusion (see People v Rayam, 94 N.Y.2d 557, 561 [2000]). An acquittal "does not make the evidence of the [acquitted conduct] disappear" for purposes of our review (People v Johnson, 73 A.D.3d 578, 580 [2010], lvs denied 15 N.Y.3d 893, 894 [2010]).
We similarly find unavailing defendant's challenge to the verdict on repugnancy grounds, since defendant's acquittal on the attempted forcible touching charges was not inherently contradictory to his conviction on the sexual abuse charge (see People v Amanturov, 63 Misc.3d 158 [A], 2019 NY Slip Op 50852[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 1014 [2019]; People v Barnes, 49 Misc.3d 131 [A], 2015 NY Slip Op 51429[U] [App Term, 2d Dept, 9th & 10th Jud Dists 2015], lv denied 26 N.Y.3d 1085 [2015]; see also People v Muhammad, 17 N.Y.3d 532, 540 [2011]).