People v. Edwards

• Decision Date: 07 June 2012
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Duane EDWARDS, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

96 A.D.3d 1089
946 N.Y.S.2d 269
2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 04424

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,
v.
Duane EDWARDS, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

June 7, 2012.

[946 N.Y.S.2d 270]

Paul J. Connolly, Delmar, for appellant, and appellant pro se.

P. David Soares, District Attorney, Albany (Steven M. Sharp of counsel), for respondent.

Before: PETERS, P.J., MERCURE, ROSE, LAHTINEN and EGAN JR., JJ.

PETERS, P.J.

[96 A.D.3d 1090]Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Lamont, J.), rendered July 16, 2009 in Albany County, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of burglary in the second degree, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree.

On a snowy December evening, the victim arrived at his home located on Washington Avenue in the City of Albany to find that his alarm system had been triggered. Upon entering his home through its back door, the victim discovered that the alarm siren had been ripped off the wall, the key pad to the alarm system was dangling by a wire and all the lights in his house were on, including the basement lights. Descending the basement stairwell to investigate, the victim spotted defendant darting out the basement door leading to the front exterior of the victim's home and gave chase. Following a struggle, during which the victim's neighbor assisted in subduing defendant, the victim was able to hold defendant on the ground until the arrival of police. A cursory search for weapons on defendant's person revealed, among other things, a pair of circuit breakers in defendant's pocket, which the victim later identified as having been taken from his utility room. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of burglary in the second degree, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree and sentenced, as a second felony offender, to an aggregate prison term of 14 years to be followed by

[946 N.Y.S.2d 271]

five years of postrelease supervision. He now appeals.

Defendant argues that his convictions were against the weight of the evidence, claiming that the victim was “too distressed” by the burglary to have accurately identified him as the perpetrator and that he was never in possession of the victim's stolen circuit breakers. The victim testified at trial that, upon discovering that a man wearing a green army jacket was attempting to flee from his basement, he immediately ran after the intruder and was able to wrestle him to the ground before he even left the victim's property. During the ensuing struggle, which lasted for approximately 10 minutes, the victim got a “good look” at the perpetrator's face and the two men, along with the neighbor, stood waiting for the police on a well-lit street before the perpetrator, apparently startled by the onset of police sirens, again attempted to evade capture by jumping over a short wrought iron fence surrounding the victim's property and making a getaway down the street. The victim again promptly took chase and was able to subdue the perpetrator on the street near the victim's home until police arrived. Both the victim and the neighbor, who also testified, identified defendant as this man.

[96 A.D.3d 1091]Defendant, on the other hand, testified that on the evening in question, he was walking down Washington Avenue on his way to a rescue mission when the victim came up behind him, threw him to the ground and held him there for no apparent reason. Notably, defendant admitted to wearing a green army jacket of the same style as that worn by the perpetrator and, although he persistently denied having committed any crime, this presented a credibility issue for the jury to resolve ( see People v. Higgins, 57 A.D.3d 1315, 1317, 869 N.Y.S.2d 706 [2008],lv. denied12 N.Y.3d 817, 881 N.Y.S.2d 24, 908 N.E.2d 932 [2009];People v. Lozada, 41 A.D.3d 1042, 1043, 839 N.Y.S.2d 275 [2007],lv. denied9 N.Y.3d 924, 844 N.Y.S.2d 178, 875 N.E.2d 897 [2007] ). Viewing the evidence in a neutral light and according deference to the jury's credibility determinations ( see People v. Bleakley, 69 N.Y.2d 490, 495, 515 N.Y.S.2d 761, 508 N.E.2d 672 [1987];People v. Higgins, 57 A.D.3d at 1317, 869 N.Y.S.2d 706), we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt on each of the counts is supported by the weight of the evidence ( see People v. Woodrow, 91 A.D.3d 1188, 1190, 936 N.Y.S.2d 778 [2012],lv. denied18 N.Y.3d 999, 968 N.E.2d 1010 [2012];People v. Colon, 42 A.D.3d 549, 550, 840 N.Y.S.2d 110 [2007],lv. denied9 N.Y.3d 922, 844 N.Y.S.2d 176, 875 N.E.2d 895 [2007];People v. Armstrong, 11...