Opinion
2021-05786 Ind 1245/15
10-21-2021
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Ronnell Joseph, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal No. 14431 No. 2018-3779
Janet E. Sabel, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Lorca Morello of counsel), for appellant. Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Diana J. Lewis of counsel), for respondent.
Janet E. Sabel, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Lorca Morello of counsel), for appellant.
Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Diana J. Lewis of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Acosta, P.J., Manzanet-Daniels, Kern, Oing, Kennedy, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (April A. Newbauer, J.), rendered June 26, 2017, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of grand larceny in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of 1½ to 3 years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's legal insufficiency 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 [2007]). Initially, we perceive no basis to disturb the jury's credibility determinations. The evidence provided the jury with ample basis to conclude that defendant stole a chain from the victim's person. The fact that the jury acquitted defendant of robbery does not warrant a different conclusion. Although in performing weight of the evidence review, we may consider an alleged factual inconsistency in a verdict (see People v Rayam, 94 N.Y.2d 557, 563 n [2000]), we nevertheless find it "imprudent to speculate concerning the factual determinations that underlay the verdict" (People v Horne, 97 N.Y.2d 404, 413 [2002]; see also People v Hemmings, 2 N.Y.3d 1, 5 n [2004]).