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People v. Prahalad

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 3, 2002
295 A.D.2d 373 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)

Opinion

00-02469

Submitted March 28, 2002

June 3, 2002

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Blumenfeld, J.), rendered February 2, 2000, convicting him of burglary in the second degree, criminal mischief in the fourth degree, and possession of burglar's tools, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

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

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano, Nicoletta J. Caferri, and Michael D. Hanratty of counsel), for respondent.

NANCY E. SMITH, J.P., CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, LEO F. McGINITY, SANDRA L. TOWNES, JJ.


ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's contention that the People failed to prove his guilt by legally sufficient evidence because the arresting police officer's testimony was incredible as a matter of law is unpreserved for appellate review. The defendant did not specifically raise this issue before the trial court, and he cannot rely on the argument made by his codefendant at trial (see People v. Gray, 86 N.Y.2d 10, 20; People v. Buckley, 75 N.Y.2d 843, 846; People v. Ross, 262 A.D.2d 429; People v. Chung Yee Choi, 224 A.D.2d 271). In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see People v. Contes, 62 N.Y.2d 620), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The police had a reasonable suspicion that a burglary was taking place when they arrived at the scene based upon information which had been communicated to them. One of the police witnesses testified that he observed the defendant exit the house from a side window and apprehended him after a brief foot chase. 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; People v. Grandsoult, 295 A.D.2d 362 [decided herewith]).

SMITH, J.P., O'BRIEN, McGINITY and TOWNES, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Prahalad

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 3, 2002
295 A.D.2d 373 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
Case details for

People v. Prahalad

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., respondent, v. SUNIL PRAHALAD, appellant

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

Date published: Jun 3, 2002

Citations

295 A.D.2d 373 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
743 N.Y.S.2d 512

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