People v. Knowles
| Decision Date | 12 July 2007 |
| Docket Number | 100141. |
| Citation | 839 N.Y.S.2d 324,2007 NY Slip Op 05971,42 A.D.3d 662 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. SHAKEEM KNOWLES, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Schenectady County (Hoye, J.), rendered February 15, 2006, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree, criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
CREW III, J.
On March 14, 2002, a group of people congregated at an apartment in the City of Schenectady, Schenectady County for the purpose of smoking crack cocaine. Jason Battaglia telephoned Cecelia Simmons, a drug dealer known as "Tank," and ordered $50 worth of cocaine. Simmons went to the apartment building and threw the drugs up a flight of stairs to Battaglia, who went into an apartment. Simmons waited approximately 15 minutes for Battaglia to return with money for the drugs and when he failed to do so, she informed defendant, apparently her partner, of his failure to pay. At some point, defendant and Simmons observed Battaglia running from the apartment building and they gave chase. Battaglia climbed over a fence, followed by defendant who caught up with Battaglia and began to fight with him. During the fight, Battaglia gave up the drugs and thereafter was stabbed in the chest by defendant, as the result of which Battaglia died from hemorrhaging.
Defendant thereafter was indicted and charged with two counts of murder in the second degree, two counts of robbery in the first degree and one count each of robbery in the second degree, grand larceny in the fourth degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. Following a jury trial, defendant was found guilty of felony murder, robbery in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. Defendant was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 25 years to life for the felony murder conviction and 25 years for the first degree robbery conviction. Additionally, defendant was sentenced to a concurrent one-year term of imprisonment for the weapon possession conviction and 8 1/3 to 25 years of imprisonment for his conviction of criminal sale of a controlled substance, which was ordered to run consecutively to the other sentences. Defendant now appeals.
Initially, we reject defendant's contention that there was legally insufficient evidence to support his convictions or, alternatively, that the convictions were contrary to the weight of the evidence. With respect to the felony murder and robbery convictions, defendant's argument is premised upon the theory that the evidence fails to establish that Battaglia had a superior possessory right to the drugs in question. In short, defendant asserts that as a partner of Simmons, he was acting under a claim of right in attempting to recover the drugs in question and, as such, he had a defense to the forcible larceny. We disagree. This Court has explicitly held that a good-faith claim of right is not a defense to robbery (see People v Banks, 55 AD2d 795, 795-796 [1976]), which holding has been cited with approval by the Court of Appeals (see People v Reid, 69 NY2d 469 [1987]).
Nevertheless, the convictions for felony murder and robbery must be reversed and a new trial granted. In its charge to the jury, County Court defined robbery as "forcible stealing" and charged the jury, quite properly, that one who commits robbery must intend "to deprive another of property or to appropriate the property to himself or to a third person" and must take the property from its owner. The court then went on to instruct that ...
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People v. Knowles
...in a decision of this Court on defendant's prior appeal in which a new trial was ordered due to certain trial errors (42 A.D.3d 662, 839 N.Y.S.2d 324 [2007] ). The evidence at trial established that defendant fatally stabbed Jason Battaglia on March 14, 2002 outside of an apartment building......
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People v. Harris
...134 A.D.3d 1519, 1521–1522, 23 N.Y.S.3d 522 [2015] ; People v. Harris, 93 A.D.3d at 70, 936 N.Y.S.2d 233 ; People v. Knowles, 42 A.D.3d 662, 665, 839 N.Y.S.2d 324 [2007] ; compare People v. McLean, 243 A.D.2d 756, 756–757, 662 N.Y.S.2d 629 [1997], lv denied 91 N.Y.2d 928, 670 N.Y.S.2d 410, ......
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People v. Serrano
...1451, 1453, 913 N.Y.S.2d 815 [2010], lv denied 16 N.Y.3d 862, 923 N.Y.S.2d 424, 947 N.E.2d 1203 [2011] ; but see People v. Knowles, 42 A.D.3d 662, 664, 839 N.Y.S.2d 324 [2007] ).4 Rather, any such constitutional error is subject to a harmless error analysis (see People v. Peguero–Sanchez, 2......
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People v. Johnson
...during custodial interrogation may not be used against him [or her] by the People as part of their case-in-chief” ( People v. Knowles, 42 A.D.3d 662, 665, 839 N.Y.S.2d 324 [2007] [citation omitted]; see People v. Murphy, 51 A.D.3d 1057, 1058, 856 N.Y.S.2d 713 [2008], lv. denied 11 N.Y.3d 79......