People v. Gaston

2017 NY Slip Op 13, 146 A.D.3d 412, 45 N.Y.S.3d 28

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: January 3, 2017
• Docket: 2604 3680/10
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bruce Allen, J.), rendered December 6, 2011, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of rape in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, burglary as a sexually motivated felony in the second degree, burglary in the second degree, grand larceny in the fourth degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 20 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant’s legal sufficiency claim is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we reject it on the merits. We also find that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 348-349 [2007]). There is no basis for disturbing the jury’s credibility determinations. Although the People’s case was based in part on circumstantial inferences, those inferences were compelling, and the evidence established all the required elements, including the victim’s incapacity to consent by reason of physical helplessness during the sex crimes (see Penal Law § 130.35 [2]) and the unlawful entry element of burglary.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.

Concur— Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Richter, Manzanet-Daniels and Kapnick, JJ.