People v. TaylorPeople v. Taylor
Decided and Entered: July 8, 2021
Before: Garry, P.J., Lynch, Clark, Aarons and Colangelo, JJ.
Bruce Evans Knoll, Albany, for appellant.
Michael A. Korchak, District Attorney, Binghamton (Rita M. Basile of counsel), for respondent.
Clark, J.
(1) Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Broome County (Cawley Jr., J.), rendered December 12, 2017, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and (2) a motion for, among other things, a reconstruction hearing.
In December 2015, based upon allegations that he shot and killed the victim outside of a social club in July 2015, defendant was charged by indictment with murder in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted as charged. County Court thereafter sentenced defendant to concurrent prison terms of 25 years to life on his conviction for murder in the second degree, 25 years to life as a persistent felony offender for his conviction of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and 3 1/2 to 7 years as a second felony offender for his conviction of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. Defendant appeals.1
Defendant argues that his convictions are not supported by
As relevant here, “[a] person is guilty of murder in the second degree when[,] . . . [w]ith intent to cause the death of another person, he [or she] causes the death of such person” (
The trial evidence, including a statement given by defendant to law enforcement, indisputably demonstrated that defendant was present at the club on the night in question and that he was outside of the club when the victim was shot. The People, however, had to rely upon circumstantial evidence to demonstrate that defendant was the shooter and that he possessed the Colt .45 caliber handgun recovered from the scene and established as the murder weapon. To that end, surveillance footage that contained no audio and witness testimony demonstrated that both the victim and defendant — who was identified in the footage as wearing a dark zip-up hooded sweatshirt and a lanyard — were indirectly involved in an altercation inside the club prior to the shooting. Surveillance footage from outside the club did not, given the distance and vantage point of the surveillance camera, depict the shooting or a gun, but did depict witnesses fleeing the scene in reaction to something and a physical altercation ensuing between two of the remaining individuals. As depicted in the surveillance footage, a dark zip-up hooded sweatshirt was pulled off one of the participants during the altercation. The evidence established that the sweatshirt, as well as a lanyard, was subsequently recovered from the scene and that DNA taken from both items revealed mixture profiles consistent with DNA from at least two individuals, with defendant being the major contributor. An elderly eyewitness who was outside at the time of the shooting testified that he heard gunshots and then saw defendant — whom he had known for many years, but did not identify in court — with his arm extended; the elderly eyewitness provided equivocal testimony as to whether he saw a gun in defendant‘s hand. Another eyewitness testified that he observed three people wearing hooded sweatshirts fighting outside of the club and that, after he heard a gunshot, he saw someone in a hooded sweatshirt with an extended arm, following which he heard a second gunshot. In our view, this and other evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the People, was legally sufficient to establish the intent element of murder in the second degree (see People v Mullings, 23 AD3d 756, 757-758 [2005], lvs denied 6 NY3d 756, 759 [2005]). Further, although a different verdict would not have been unreasonable, we find that defendant‘s convictions are supported by the weight of the evidence (see People v White-Span, 182 AD3d 909, 914 [2020], lv denied 35 NY3d 1071 [2020]; People v Myers, 163 AD3d 1152, 1154 [2018], lv denied 32 NY3d 1066 [2018]).
We agree with defendant that County Court erred in denying his request for a circumstantial evidence charge. “[A] trial court must grant a defendant‘s request for a circumstantial evidence charge when the proof of the defendant‘s guilt rests solely on circumstantial evidence” (People v Hardy, 26 NY3d 245, 249 [2015]; see People v Santiago, 22 NY3d 990, 991-992 [2013]). Where, however, there is both direct and circumstantial evidence of the defendant‘s guilt, a circumstantial evidence charge is not required (see People v Hardy, 26 NY3d at 249; People v Stover, 178 AD3d 1138, 1145 [2019], lv denied 34 NY3d 1163 [2020]). “Direct evidence is evidence of a fact based on a witness‘s personal knowledge or observation of that fact,” while “[c]ircumstantial evidence is direct evidence of a fact from which a person may reasonably infer the existence or nonexistence of another fact” (CJI2d[NY] Circumstantial Evidence—Entire Case; see generally People v Bretagna, 298 NY 323, 325 [1949]).
Here, there was no direct evidence identifying defendant as the shooter or as having possessed a loaded firearm. Indeed, there was no DNA or fingerprint evidence linking defendant to the Colt .45 caliber handgun that was recovered near the scene or the shell casing and projectiles that were found to have been fired from that gun (compare People v Brown, 81 AD3d 1305, 1306 [2011], lv denied 16 NY3d 856 [2011]). Further, the surveillance footage — which only distantly captured the incident — did not depict defendant with a firearm. Nor was it possible to discern from the footage who shot the victim. Contrary to the People‘s contention, the equivocal testimony given by the elderly eyewitness does not qualify as direct evidence in this case, given that he did not identify defendant in court and certain inferences had to be drawn from his testimony to conclude that defendant shot the victim and that he possessed a firearm (see People v Cortez, 85 AD3d 409, 411 [2011], affd 22 NY3d 1061 [2014], cert denied 574 US 858 [2014]; compare People v Golston, 13 AD3d 887, 890 [2004], lv denied 5 NY3d 789 [2005]; People v Lawrence, 186 AD2d 1016, 1017 [1992], lv denied 81 NY2d 790 [1993]). In short, the proof against defendant was entirely circumstantial and County Court erred in concluding otherwise. Accordingly, County Court should have granted defendant‘s request for a circumstantial evidence charge (see People v Swem, 182 AD3d 1050, 1051-1052 [2020]; People v James, 147 AD3d 1211, 1213-1214 [2017], lv denied 29 NY3d 1128 [2017]).
In light of our determination, the remaining issues raised by defendant are academic.
Garry, P.J., Lynch, Aarons and Colangelo, JJ., concur.
ORDERED that the motion is denied.
ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and matter remitted to the County Court of Broome County for further proceedings not inconsistent with this Court‘s decision.