People v Rodriguez
2009 NY Slip Op 04005 [62 AD3d 568]
May 21, 2009
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, July 1, 2009


The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Reyes Rodriguez, Appellant.

[*1] Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Joanne Legano Ross of counsel), for appellant.

Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Alice Wiseman of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael J. Obus, J.), rendered November 3, 2006, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of conspiracy in the fourth degree, and sentencing him to a term of 1 to 3 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's legal sufficiency argument is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that the verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence. Furthermore, the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 348-349 [2007]). There was no innocent explanation for defendant's course of conduct, including his coordinated activity with the other conspirators and the presence in his van of equipment suitable for use in committing the intended robbery. Concur—McGuire, J.P., Acosta, DeGrasse, Richter and Abdus-Salaam, JJ.