173 A.D.2d 659 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1991
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Linakis, J.), rendered July 10, 1989, convicting him of grand larceny in the fourth degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see, People v Contes, 60 NY2d 620), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant’s guilt of grand larceny in the fourth degree beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence showed that while the complainant was in the library at her school, she was sitting in a carrel on a straight-
The defendant also contends that since this was a case based entirely on circumstantial evidence, the trial court erred by denying his request for a special jury charge on circumstantial evidence. However, we find that the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s charge request was harmless error (see, People v Borazzo, 137 AD2d 96). The circumstantial evidence adduced at trial overwhelmingly established the defendant’s guilt of the crimes charged and excluded to a moral certainty every reasonable hypothesis of innocence (see, People v Evans, supra, at 502-503). Kooper, J. P., Sullivan, Lawrence and Ritter, JJ., concur.