People v. Rychel
Decision Date | 14 June 2001 |
Citation | 284 A.D.2d 662,728 N.Y.S.2d 211 |
Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Parties | THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>SHAUN RYCHEL, Appellant. |
Crew III, J. P., Peters, Spain and Mugglin, JJ., concur.
Defendant was charged in a two-count indictment with robbery in the first degree and grand larceny in the fourth degree. The indictment stemmed from an incident which occurred on July 24, 1999 in the City of Elmira, Chemung County, when defendant and another allegedly stole $106 from the victim by threatening to "cut" him. After completion of discovery and County Court's ruling on his omnibus motion, defendant executed a written waiver of his right to a jury trial and agreed, on the record, to a set of stipulated facts, which were as follows: Based on these facts, County Court found defendant not guilty of robbery in the first degree, not guilty of grand larceny in the fourth degree and guilty of robbery in the third degree. Defendant was thereafter sentenced as a second felony offender to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of 3 to 6 years, which was the sentence the parties had agreed upon if defendant was found guilty based on the stipulated facts. Defendant appeals.
On appeal, defendant argues that the stipulated facts do not support his conviction for robbery in the third degree because they present only a conclusion and do not contain a factual basis demonstrating that he forcibly took the money from the victim. He also claims that his sentence was harsh and excessive.
Initially, we note, as the People point out in their brief, that defendant did not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence in the stipulation prior to the imposition of his sentence, therefore resulting in a waiver of his right to raise this issue on appeal (see, People v Mills, 103 AD2d 379, 388). Nevertheless, we shall address the merits of defendant's claims.
Penal Law § 160.05 states that "[a] person [is] guilty of robbery in the third degree when he forcibly steals property." In pertinent part robbery is defined as follows:
Viewing the stipulation in the light most favorable to the People, as we must (see,...
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