| People v Harris |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 09212 [56 AD3d 1267] |
| November 21, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Fourth Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Vaughn R.Harris, Appellant. |
—[*1] William J. Fitzpatrick, District Attorney, Syracuse (Robert E. Rust, Jr., of counsel), forrespondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Onondaga County (John J. Brunetti, A.J.),rendered July 15, 2005. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of criminalpossession of a forged instrument in the second degree (two counts).
It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of twocounts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree (Penal Law §170.25). We conclude that the verdict is not against the weight of the evidence (see generallyPeople v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]). Contrary to defendant's contention, thetestimony of one of the People's witnesses was not incredible as a matter of law inasmuch as itwas not impossible of belief, i.e., it was not manifestly untrue, physically impossible, contrary toexperience, or self-contradictory (see People v Steele, 168 AD2d 937, 939 [1990], lvdenied 77 NY2d 967 [1991]). The inconsistencies between the testimony of that witness andthe testimony of defendant's witnesses involved credibility issues that were resolved by the jury,and we accord great deference to the jury's credibility determinations (see People vBorthwick, 51 AD3d 1211, 1214 [2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 734 [2008]; seegenerally Bleakley, 69 NY2d at 495). Defendant further contends that he was deniedeffective assistance of counsel. That contention lacks merit because defendant failed to "'demonstrate the absence of strategic or other legitimate explanations' for counsel's allegedshortcomings" (People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 712 [1998]; see generally Peoplev Baldi, 54 NY2d 137, 147 [1981]). Present—Scudder, P.J., Martoche, Lunn,Peradotto and Green, JJ.