Opinion
5615 Ind. 1141/12
02-06-2018
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Luis TEJADA, Defendant–Appellant.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (David A. Crow of counsel), and Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, New York (Vincent C. Papa of counsel), for appellant. Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (James J. Wen of counsel), for respondent.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (David A. Crow of counsel), and Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, New York (Vincent C. Papa of counsel), for appellant.
Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (James J. Wen of counsel), for respondent.
Richter, J.P., Mazzarelli, Webber, Kahn, Oing, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Robert A. Sackett, J.), rendered July 23, 2014, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of five years, unanimously affirmed.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ). The jury could have reasonably concluded that defendant's display of a knife, in conjunction with his demand for the victim's purse and immediate flight with her property, constituted the threatened use of a dangerous instrument, because "there was no reasonable explanation of defendant's conduct other than an implied threat to use the knife" ( People Sharma, 112 A.D.3d 494, 495, 976 N.Y.S.2d 468 [1st Dept. 2013], lv denied 23 N.Y.3d 1025, 992 N.Y.S.2d 808, 16 N.E.3d 1288 [2014] ; see also People v. Boisseau, 33 A.D.3d 568, 824 N.Y.S.2d 17 [1st Dept. 2006], lv denied 8 N.Y.3d 844, 830 N.Y.S.2d 702, 862 N.E.2d 794 [2007] ).