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In re Aida S.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 19, 1993
189 A.D.2d 818 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993)

Opinion

January 19, 1993

Appeal from the Family Court, Queens County (Friedman, J.).


Ordered that the order of disposition is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

There is no merit to the appellant's contention that the evidence adduced at the fact-finding hearing was legally insufficient to support her adjudication as a juvenile delinquent. The evidence established that the appellant, while acting in concert with three other individuals, one of whom displayed a knife, stole items of jewelry from two teenaged victims. In order to sustain the finding that the appellant was guilty as an accomplice, the evidence, when viewed in a light most favorable to the presentment agency, must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused acted with the mental culpability necessary to commit the act charged and that, in furtherance thereof, she solicited, requested, commanded, importuned, or intentionally aided the principal to commit the act (see, Penal Law § 20.00; Matter of John G., 118 A.D.2d 646; People v. Karchefski, 102 A.D.2d 856; People v. Reyes, 82 A.D.2d 925). In this case, the appellant's concerted action with her accomplices in approaching the complainants on three occasions, her participation in surrounding the complainants at a very close distance, her flight with her accomplices following the completion of the robbery, her arrest, still in the company of her accomplices approximately 20 minutes after the crime at a location several blocks away, and the discovery of a concealed kitchen knife on her person upon her arrest, all combined to establish that she knowingly participated in an act which, if committed by an adult, would have constituted the crimes of robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree, and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, although she said nothing during the actual incident (see, Matter of Juan J., 81 N.Y.2d 739; Matter of Wade F., 49 N.Y.2d 730). Similarly the appellant's possession of a concealed knife during the course of a robbery gives rise to a reasonable inference that she possessed the knife with the intent to use it unlawfully against another, sufficient to establish that she committed an act which, if committed by an adult, would constitute the crime of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree (Penal Law § 265.01; People v. Bracey, 41 N.Y.2d 296, 302). Moreover, upon the exercise of our factual review power, we are satisfied that the finding of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see, CPL 470.15).

We have considered the appellant's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Lawrence, J.P., Eiber, Miller and Pizzuto, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

In re Aida S.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 19, 1993
189 A.D.2d 818 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993)
Case details for

In re Aida S.

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of AIDA S., a Person Alleged to be a Juvenile Delinquent…

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

Date published: Jan 19, 1993

Citations

189 A.D.2d 818 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993)
592 N.Y.S.2d 442

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