People v. Headley

• Decision Date: 05 April 2022
• Docket Number: 15643,Ind. No. 4853N/15,Case No. 2019–2477
• Citation: 204 A.D.3d 417,163 N.Y.S.3d 814 (Mem)
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Milton HEADLEY, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

204 A.D.3d 417
163 N.Y.S.3d 814 (Mem)

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,
v.
Milton HEADLEY, Defendant–Appellant.

15643
Ind. No. 4853N/15
Case No. 2019–2477

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

ENTERED April 5, 2022

Caprice R. Jenerson, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Alba Morales of counsel) and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, New York (Alyssa Barnard–Yanni of counsel), for appellant.

Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sheila L. Bautista of counsel), for respondent.

Gische, J.P., Moulton, Scarpulla, Shulman, Pitt, JJ.

204 A.D.3d 417

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Neil E. Ross, J.), rendered January 16, 2018, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of attempted robbery in the first degree and conspiracy in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to an aggregate term of five years, unanimously modified, on the law, to the extent of vacating the conviction for attempted first-degree robbery and dismissing that count, and otherwise affirmed.

Defendant's conspiracy conviction was supported by legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ). Defendant's argument that he was merely present in the front

204 A.D.3d 418

passenger seat of a car that was also occupied by the primary conspirator is unavailing. In what was actually a police sting operation, this car was leading a convoy of cars containing conspirators en route to commit what they thought would be an armed robbery involving a large shipment of drugs, following two months of planning. The totality of the circumstances warranted inferences that defendant intended to partake in an armed robbery and agreed with the other assembled codefendants to assist in carrying it out (see People v. Bundy, 90 N.Y.2d 918, 920, 663 N.Y.S.2d 837, 686 N.E.2d 496 [1997] ; United States v. Anderson, 747...