| People v Fondren |
| 2007 NY Slip Op 06758 [43 AD3d 707] |
| September 18, 2007 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Christopher Fondren, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Susan Axelrod of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (John Cataldo, J.), rendered March 9, 2006,convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second and thirddegrees and unlawful possession of marijuana, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of3½ years and a fine of $25, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's arguments concerning his conviction of second-degree weapon possession areunpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review theseclaims, we would find that the evidence of defendant's intent to use the weapon unlawfully waslegally sufficient in light of the statutory presumption of unlawful intent (Penal Law §265.15 [4]), which the court properly submitted to the jury.
With respect to the conviction of third-degree possession, there was legally sufficientevidence that defendant constructively possessed the weapon outside his home or place ofbusiness. The evidence established that, as the police entered the apartment in question, a personacting on defendant's behalf deposited the weapon on the fire escape one floor directly belowdefendant's bedroom window, and that defendant exercised sufficient dominion and control overthe weapon to constitute constructive possession (see generally People v Manini, 79NY2d 561, 574-575 [1992]).
We also find that, with respect to both degrees of possession, the verdict was not against[*2]the weight of the evidence. We decline to dismiss thethird-degree possession conviction in the interest of justice. Concur—Andrias, J.P.,Buckley, Catterson, Malone and Kavanagh, JJ.