April 21, 2026

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Daniel P. Conviser, J.), rendered December 19, 2024, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of eight years, unanimously affirmed.

The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 348-349 [2007]; see also People v Baque, 43 NY3d 26 [2024]). There is no basis upon which to disturb the jury's credibility determinations, which are entitled to deference (People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]). The evidence at trial established that defendant entered an undercover officer's car carrying a box that contained more than 6,000 fentanyl pills and acted as the courier for a negotiated drug transaction between that officer and a narcotics trafficker for a sum of $25,000, permitting the inference that defendant "kn[ew] what he possesse[d]" (People v Reisman, 29 NY2d 278, 285 [1971], cert denied 405 US 1041 [1972]; see People v Green, 35 NY2d 437, 442-443 [1974]; Penal Law § 220.43 [1]). Defendant's testimony failed to rebut that inference (see People v Acosta, 174 AD2d 181, 184 [1st Dept 1992], lv denied 79 NY2d 1045 [1992]), and the jury reasonably rejected his claim that he was unaware of the contents of the box, particularly where his testimony conflicted with the video evidence, and he admitted that he would receive $2,000 after the exchange was completed. Concur—Renwick, P.J., Friedman, Gesmer, Pitt-Burke, Hagler, JJ.