Opinion
March 21, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Alvin Schlesinger, J.).
Contrary to defendant's claim, the "moral certainty" standard of review is not available to an appellate court in deciding an insufficiency claim (People v. Williams, 84 N.Y.2d 925). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the People (People v Acosta, 80 N.Y.2d 665, 672), and giving deference to the jury's findings of credibility (People v. Bleakley, 69 N.Y.2d 490, 495), we conclude that defendant's guilt was proved by legally sufficient evidence and that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence. Three plainclothes officers observed defendant and his two accomplices over a fifteen minute period as they pointed to the pockets and pocketbooks of other potential victims, and gestured and spoke to each other. When the assailants converged upon the victim, who was carrying his daughter on his shoulder, defendant and one accomplice positioned themselves on either side of the victim and "bumped and pushed" him immediately before the third accomplice reached into the victim's pocket, dragged him to the ground and removed $2. As they fled from the scene, defendant and one of his cohorts kept looking back at the crime scene.
Concur — Murphy, P.J., Sullivan, Ellerin, Williams and Mazzarelli, JJ.