People v. Dickerson (Jewel)

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: August 8, 2019
• Docket: 2019 NYSlipOp 51298(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

Jewel Dickerson, Appellant.

Jewel Dickerson, appellant pro se. Orange County District Attorney, for respondent (no brief filed).

Appeal from a judgment of the Justice Court of the Town of Crawford, Orange County (Bryan M. Kulack, J.), rendered January 22, 2018. The judgment convicted defendant, after a nonjury trial, of speeding.

ORDERED that the judgment of conviction is reversed, on the facts, the simplified traffic information is dismissed, and the fine, if paid, is remitted.

Defendant was charged in a simplified traffic information with speeding (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1180 [d]). At a nonjury trial, a police officer testified that the radar reading of the speed of defendant's vehicle was 59 miles per hour (mph) in a 45 mph zone. Defendant testified that she had been traveling 50 mph in a 50 mph speed zone when she had gone into a 45 mph speed zone, but that she had slowed down as she had crossed from the 50 mph zone to the 45 mph zone. The court specifically rejected the officer's radar reading but found defendant guilty of speeding at a rate of 50 mph in a 45 mph zone based on what it found to be her admission.

In reviewing whether the verdict was against the weight of the evidence (see CPL 470.15 [5]; People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 343, 348 [2007]), we find, upon a close reading of defendant's [*2]testimony, that defendant's testimony was insufficient to establish that she had in fact been speeding after she had entered the 45 mph zone. Consequently, we find that the guilty verdict was against the weight of the evidence.

Accordingly, the judgment of conviction is reversed and the simplified information is dismissed.

ADAMS, P.J., TOLBERT and EMERSON, JJ., concur.

ENTER:
Paul Kenny
Chief Clerk
Decision Date: August 08, 2019