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People v. Johnson

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 3, 2002
295 A.D.2d 368 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)

Opinion

00-02430

Argued May 9, 2002

June 3, 2002

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Cooperman, J.), rendered February 22, 2000, convicting him of murder in the second degree (six counts), attempted robbery in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

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

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Queens County, Kew Gardens, N Y (John M. Castellano and Johnette Traill of counsel), for respondent.

SANDRA J. FEUERSTEIN, J.P., GLORIA GOLDSTEIN, LEO F. McGINITY, STEPHEN G. CRANE, JJ.


ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to establish his guilt both because there was no eyewitness or physical evidence connecting him to the crimes charged and because the People's witnesses were not credible. This contention is unpreserved for appellate review since he did not specify those grounds in his motion to dismiss at trial (see CPL 470.05; People v. Gray, 86 N.Y.2d 10; People v. Udzinski, 146 A.D.2d 245). In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 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).

The sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v. Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80, 83).

FEUERSTEIN, J.P., GOLDSTEIN, McGINITY and CRANE, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Johnson

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 3, 2002
295 A.D.2d 368 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
Case details for

People v. Johnson

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., RESPONDENT, v. GARY JOHNSON, APPELLANT

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

Date published: Jun 3, 2002

Citations

295 A.D.2d 368 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
743 N.Y.S.2d 289

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