From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Roman

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Apr 28, 1994
83 N.Y.2d 866 (N.Y. 1994)

Opinion

Argued March 23, 1994

Decided April 28, 1994

Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department, Maurice Brill, J.

Mark W. Zeno, New York City, and Philip L. Weinstein for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney of Kings County, Brooklyn (Quentin Moore and Roseann B. MacKechnie of counsel), for respondent.


MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

Defendant was charged as an accomplice in the sale of drugs based upon the following evidence. During daylight hours an undercover officer approached a man on a Brooklyn street and offered to buy drugs. The man walked a few feet to a car where defendant sat, and defendant passed several packets of heroin to him through the car window. The man then sold one packet to the undercover officer. The People established that defendant and the intermediary had been in the car together shortly before the sale, that the entire transaction with the undercover officer was visible to defendant and that defendant provided a quantity of drugs that would be inconsistent with a purchase solely for the intermediary's personal use.

From this evidence and the permissible inferences to be drawn from it, the jury had a sufficient basis for concluding that defendant possessed the requisite intent to aid the intermediary in the sale of the drugs to the officer under a theory of accomplice liability (see, Penal Law § 15.05, 20.00; see also, People v Kaplan, 76 N.Y.2d 140; compare, People v Lipton, 54 N.Y.2d 340).

Defendant's other argument on appeal is unpreserved.

Chief Judge KAYE and Judges SIMONS, TITONE, BELLACOSA, SMITH, LEVINE and CIPARICK concur.

Order affirmed in a memorandum.


Summaries of

People v. Roman

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Apr 28, 1994
83 N.Y.2d 866 (N.Y. 1994)
Case details for

People v. Roman

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. EDWIN ROMAN, Appellant

Court:Court of Appeals of the State of New York

Date published: Apr 28, 1994

Citations

83 N.Y.2d 866 (N.Y. 1994)
611 N.Y.S.2d 829
634 N.E.2d 201

Citing Cases

People v. White

The defendant's contention that the trial court coerced the jury to reach its verdict is unpreserved for…

People v. Prather

Penal Law § 20.00 provides that a person may be held criminally liable as an accomplice if, "acting with the…