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People v. Smith

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Fourth Department
Jun 5, 2009
63 A.D.3d 1655 (N.Y. App. Div. 2009)

Opinion

No. 876 KA 06-00410.

June 5, 2009.

Appeal from a judgment of the Monroe County Court (Alex R. Renzi, J.), rendered December 14, 2005. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.

TIMOTHY P. DONAHER, PUBLIC DEFENDER, ROCHESTER (WILLIAM CLAUSS OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

MICHAEL C. GREEN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, ROCHESTER (NICOLE M. FANTIGROSSI OF COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT.

Present: Martoche, J.P., Smith, Fahey, Carni and Green, JJ.


It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (Penal Law § 265.02 [former (4)]), defendant contends that County Court erred in refusing to charge the defense of temporary innocent possession of a weapon.

We reject that contention. The evidence presented at trial established that, rather than relinquishing the gun to the po-lice, defendant fled on foot and threw the weapon onto a roof. Defendant's conduct was "utterly at odds with any claim of innocent possession" ( People v Williams, 50 NY2d 1043, 1045; see People v McCoy, 46 AD3d 1348, 1349-1350, lv denied 10 NY3d 813) and, thus, "`there was no reasonable view of the evidence upon which the jury could have found that the defendant's possession [of the weapon] was innocent'" ( McCoy, 46 AD3d at 1349-1350).


Summaries of

People v. Smith

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Fourth Department
Jun 5, 2009
63 A.D.3d 1655 (N.Y. App. Div. 2009)
Case details for

People v. Smith

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. CHRISTOPHER S. SMITH…

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

Date published: Jun 5, 2009

Citations

63 A.D.3d 1655 (N.Y. App. Div. 2009)
2009 N.Y. Slip Op. 4632
879 N.Y.S.2d 652

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