People v. Abbasi

199 A.D.2d 183, 605 N.Y.S.2d 295, 1993 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12179

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Phylis Skloot Bamberger, J.), rendered September 24, 1992, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of one count of grand larceny in the third degree and seventeen counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, and sentencing him to eighteen concurrent definite terms of one year, and ordering him to make restitution in the sum of $75,000, unanimously affirmed. The matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Bronx County for further proceedings pursuant to CPL 460.50 (5).

Defendant’s contention that the trial court should have given a circumstantial evidence charge is unpreserved, and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. Were we to review it, we would find it without merit, because a circumstantial evidence charge is only required when the prosecution relies entirely on circumstantial evidence (People v Barnes, 50 NY2d 375), whereas in this case there was substantial direct evidence, most notably testimony about a meeting in which defendant himself proposed the unlawful scheme.

Defendant’s contentions concerning the prosecutor’s summation are, likewise, both unpreserved and meritless.

Defendant’s sentence was not excessive, given the large amount of money stolen by defendant. Concur—Murphy, P. J., Carro, Ellerin and Kupferman, JJ.