People v. Shelby
| Decision Date | 20 June 1985 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James W. SHELBY, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Douglas P. Rutnik, Albany County Public Defender, Albany (James P. Milstein, Albany, of counsel), for appellant.
Sol Greenberg, Albany County Dist. Atty., Albany (Renee Z. Farnham, Albany, of counsel), for respondent.
Before MAIN, J.P., and MIKOLL, YESAWICH, LEVINE and HARVEY, JJ.
Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Albany County, rendered October 4, 1983, upon a verdict convicting defendant of five counts of the crime of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.
Defendant's conviction arose out of two indictments which were consolidated for trial. The first, dated March 30, 1983, charged defendant with two counts of second degree criminal possession of a forged instrument based on his having presented two forged checks to a teller at the Albany Savings Bank on March 7, 1983. The second indictment, dated July 21, 1983, charged defendant with three counts of second degree criminal possession of a forged instrument based on his involvement in a check-cashing scheme at a branch of the Northeast Savings Bank on March 24, 1983. Regarding this second indictment, trial testimony of two of defendant's four accomplices disclosed that defendant had driven the car which conveyed his accomplices to the bank. There, he presented two of them with forged checks to cash, and, upon their return from the bank, he received a share of the proceeds. Defendant thereafter drove with his accomplices to various destinations in the vicinity until they were pulled over and apprehended by the Colonie Town Police approximately one hour later. Following defendant's conviction of five counts of the crime of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, he was sentenced as a predicate felon to concurrent terms of 3 1/2 to 7 years on each count, with the sentences imposed on each of the two indictments to run consecutively.
Defendant's principal contention on this appeal is that the People failed to produce sufficient evidence to corroborate his accomplices' testimony regarding his involvement in the check-cashing scheme which led to the indictment of July 21, 1983. We cannot agree. By statute, a defendant may not be convicted solely upon accomplice testimony. It must be corroborated by evidence "tending to connect the defendant with the commission of such offense" (CPL 60.22[1] ). It is well established, however, that this corroborative evidence need not itself prove that the defendant committed the crime (People v. Glasper, 52 N.Y.2d 970, 971, 438 N.Y.S.2d 282, 420 N.E.2d 80; People v. Cunningham, 48 N.Y.2d 938, 940, 425 N.Y.S.2d 59, 401 N.E.2d 182). It is sufficient if the corroborating testimony connects the defendant with the crime in such a way that the jury may be reasonably satisfied that the accomplices' testimony is truthful (People v. Daniels, 37 N.Y.2d 624, 630, 376 N.Y.S.2d 436, 339 N.E.2d 139).
In the instant matter, the People presented, inter alia, the testimony of three Colonie Police officers to corroborate the testimony of the accomplices that defendant drove them to the bank, gave them the forged checks to cash and received a share of the resulting proceeds. The officers testified that the car in which defendant and the accomplices were traveling on the day of the incidents in question was identified at the scene by bank employees as a maroon and black Oldsmobile station wagon, bearing New York...
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