Opinion
2015-06-16
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Reynel VEGA, Defendant–Appellant.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Mitchell J. Briskey of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Patricia Curran of counsel), for respondent.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Mitchell J. Briskey of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Patricia Curran of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, J.), rendered March 21, 2011, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 3 1/2 years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's legal sufficiency 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, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ). There is no basis for disturbing the jury's credibility determinations. The combination of eyewitness testimony and a videotape support the conclusion that defendant possessed a pistol, which he deposited in a hiding place where the police found it. The absence of defendant's fingerprints or DNA on the weapon was satisfactorily explained by the People's expert witnesses.