People v. Alnutt

101 A.D.3d 1461, 957 N.Y.2d 412
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided December 27, 2012·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Garry, J.

[1462] Defendant, the daughter and the son-in-law were charged in a joint indictment with crimes arising from the fire. Following a joint jury trial, defendant was convicted of arson in the third degree, insurance fraud in the second degree, insurance fraud in the third degree (two counts), grand larceny in the second degree, grand larceny in the third degree (two counts), reckless endangerment in the second degree, conspiracy in the fourth degree and conspiracy in the fifth degree. Defendant’s motion to set aside the verdict pursuant to CPL 330.30 was denied and he was thereafter sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 5 to 15 years and ordered to pay restitution. Defendant appeals.

Initially, defendant contends that his convictions were not supported by legally sufficient evidence and were against the weight of the evidence because the testimony of Hart, an accomplice as a matter of law (see CPL 60.22 [2] [a]), was insufficiently corroborated. We disagree, finding that the People met their burden to offer credible, probative evidence that corroborated Hart’s testimony by connecting defendant with the commission of the charged crimes (see People v Reome, 15 NY3d 188, 191-192 [2010]; People v Lee, 80 AD3d 877, 878 [2011], lv denied 16 NY3d 832, 833, 834 [2011]). Hart testified that defendant invited him to participate in a scheme to burn the building and divide the insurance proceeds; under the plan, Hart signed a lease and obtained renter’s insurance although he did not live in the building, and provided defendant with possessions to be placed in the building to increase the value of the insurance claim. According to Hart, he, defendant, the daughter and the son-in-law met in the daughter’s apartment on the night of the fire; as part of the plan to make the fire appear accidental, the daughter was cooking. Hart testified that after the daughter and son-in-law left the building, he helped defendant spread accelerants that, according to defendant, would not be detectable by investigators after the fire. To create the appearance of an accident, the stove burners were left on, and defendant ignited the conflagration by setting fire to a roll of paper towels and tossing them toward the stove.

Nonaccomplice evidence connecting defendant to the crimes included the testimony of a witness who visited the building on [1463] the night of the fire and found defendant present with the son-in-law, a third man unknown to the witness and the daughter, who was cooking. An insurance representative testified that following the fire, defendant submitted an insurance claim that included a claim for lost rent, although there was other evidence that the daughter and son-in-law did not pay rent and that leases defendant submitted in support of this claim were not generated until after the fire. Defendant was seen after the fire wearing a ring that Hart had included in his renter’s insurance claim, and defendant’s handwriting appeared on a list of stamps and coins that Hart also submitted to his insurer; Hart later testified that these items belonged to defendant. Defendant’s name appeared on the utility account for the apartment where the son-in-law purportedly resided, and there was evidence that the son-in-law did not live there (see People v Pagan, 97 AD3d 963, 965 [2012]). Extensive additional corroborative evidence — including a fire investigator’s testimony that, although no traces of accelerant were found, unusual burn patterns in the building suggested that the fire was intentionally set — has been examined by this Court in connection with the appeals filed by the daughter and son-in-law (id.; People v Pagan, 87 AD3d 1181, 1182 [2011]). Cumulatively, the nonaccomplice evidence amply provided the required “slim corroborative linkage” to Hart’s testimony (People v Breland, 83 NY2d 286, 294 [1994]; accord People v Reome, 15 NY3d at 192). Thus, the evidence was legally sufficient to permit the jury to conclude that all of the elements of the crimes of which defendant was convicted were established beyond a reasonable doubt (see People v Berry, 78 AD3d 1226, 1228 [2010], lv denied 16 NY3d 828 [2011]; People v Self, 75 AD3d 924, 925-926 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 895 [2010]). Further, although a different verdict would not have been unreasonable, considering the evidence in a neutral light and giving the appropriate deference to the jury’s credibility assessments and resolution of conflicting evidence, we are satisfied that the verdict is not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Gilbo, 52 AD3d 952, 954 [2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 788 [2008]).

We discern no error in County Court’s Sandoval ruling. In response to the People’s request to cross-examine defendant about seven prior convictions and a lengthy list of bad acts, the court permitted inquiry into only two convictions. As to the first of these, the court limited potential prejudice by permitting the People to establish that defendant had been found guilty of a federal felony without allowing any reference to the specific nature of the crime — that is, weapons sale. The People were further permitted to inquire about a 1987 bail-jumping convic[1464] tion without mentioning the charges that defendant was facing when he absconded. While this offense was remote in time, [t]here are no per se rules that require preclusion of prior convictions due to their age, nature or number” (People v Jones, 70 AD3d 1253, 1254 [2010]; see People v Ward, 27 AD3d 776, 777 [2006], lv denied 7 NY3d 764 [2006]). Both convictions reflected defendant’s willingness to place his interests above those of society, and the court properly balanced their probative value against the risk of unfair prejudice (see People v Phelan, 82 AD3d 1279,1282 [2011], lv denied 17 NY3d 799 [2011]; People v Peele, 73 AD3d 1219, 1220 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 893, 894 [2010]; People v Collins, 56 AD3d 809, 810 [2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 923 [2009]).

Defendant’s constitutional right to confront witnesses (see Crawford v Washington, 541 US 36 [2004]; Bruton v United States, 391 US 123 [1968]) was not violated by the use at trial of a statement in which the son-in-law told police that he “had knowledge” of and “was involved in” the fire. The statement was admitted solely as evidence against the son-in-law, the jury was repeatedly given instructions to that effect and the statement neither mentioned defendant nor implicated him in any wrongdoing (see People v Pagan, 87 AD3d at 1183-1185; compare People v Hardy, 4 NY3d 192, 197-198 [2005]; People v Pinto, 56 AD3d 956, 958 [2008]). Further, County Court did not err in denying defendant’s request for a circumstantial evidence instruction, as none of the charges against him were supported solely by such evidence (see People v Pagan, 97 AD3d at 968; People v Varmette, 70 AD3d 1167, 1171 [2010], lv denied 14 NY3d 845 [2010]).

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People v. Alnutt, 101 A.D.3d 1461, 957 N.Y.2d 412 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2012).

101 A.D.3d 1461 (People v. Alnutt) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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