People v. Richards

78 A.D.3d 1221, 909 N.Y.S.2d 841
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedNovember 4, 2010
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 78 A.D.3d 1221 (People v. Richards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Richards, 78 A.D.3d 1221, 909 N.Y.S.2d 841 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Stein, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Montgomery County (Catena, J.), rendered May 8, 2009, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of rape in the second degree (eight counts) and criminal sexual act in the second degree (eight counts).

Defendant was charged in a 16-count indictment with eight counts of rape in the second degree and eight counts of criminal sexual act in the second degree for having sexual intercourse and/or oral and/or anal sex with a 14-year-old girl. Defendant’s motion to suppress statements that he had made to police was denied following a Huntley hearing. After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of all 16 charges and was subsequently sentenced to concurrent prison terms of three years, followed by 10 years of postrelease supervision, for each count. Defendant now appeals and we affirm.

Defendant first contends that his convictions were based on legally insufficient evidence and were against the weight of the evidence. Preliminarily, we note that, although defendant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is unpreserved for our review because he failed to make a particularized motion to dismiss or to set aside the verdict directed at the specific deficiencies in the proof that he now advances, we will nonetheless consider the sufficiency of the evidence as to each element of the crimes charged in the context of our weight of the evidence review (see People v Vargas, 72 AD3d 1114, 1116 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 758 [2010]; People v Barringer, 54 AD3d 442, 443 [2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 830 [2008]). In that regard, if we determine, based on all the credible evidence, that a different finding would not be unreasonable, we must evaluate the evidence in a neutral light and “ ‘weigh the relative probative force of conflicting testimony and the relative strength of conflicting inferences that may be drawn from the testimony’ ” (People v Hebert, 68 AD3d 1530, 1531 [2009], lv denied 14 NY3d 841 [2010], quoting People v Romero, 7 NY3d 633, 643 [2006]), while according appropriate deference to the jury’s credibility determinations (see People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]; People v Hebert, 68 AD3d at 1531).

As relevant here, a person is guilty of the crime of rape in the second degree when, being 18 years old or older, “he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person less than [15] [1223]*1223years old” (Penal Law § 130.30 [1]), and criminal sexual act in the second degree occurs when a person 18 years old or older “engages in oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct with another person less than [15] years old” (Penal Law § 130.45 [1]). It is undisputed that, at the time the crimes took place, defendant was 23 years old and the victim was 14 years old. The victim testified that, between April 24, 2008 and June 11, 2008, she went to defendant’s apartment every week after school or stayed overnight on weekends and engaged in sexual intercourse and/or oral sex with defendant. Although she was not able to recall all of the specific dates on which she and defendant engaged in sexual activity, she did testify to some specific dates during the weeks in question. One of the specific dates on which the victim testified she had sex with defendant was June 11, 2008. She testified that, when she returned from school at approximately 5:00 p.m. that day, she and defendant engaged in sexual intercourse and anal sex at defendant’s apartment.

Defendant’s former roommate also testified that she witnessed defendant and the victim “act[ing] like a couple,” that she overheard defendant and the victim talking about having had sexual intercourse and anal sex on one occasion and that she found a video file on a computer that defendant claimed depicted him and the victim having oral sex. In addition, the victim’s mother testified that she allowed the victim to sleep over at defendant’s apartment, usually on weekends, as she was led to believe that the victim was staying over with the roommate. The jury also heard from Kurt Conroy, a police officer who testified that defendant made various allegedly incriminating statements to him at the police station.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 A.D.3d 1221, 909 N.Y.S.2d 841, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-richards-nyappdiv-2010.