People v Boyd
2009 NY Slip Op 00856 [59 AD3d 1001]
February 6, 2009
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, April 1, 2009


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Patrick Boyd,Appellant.

[*1]Frank J. Nebush, Jr., Public Defender, Utica (Esther Cohen Lee of counsel), fordefendant-appellant.

Scott D. McNamara, District Attorney, Utica (Steven G. Cox of counsel), forrespondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Oneida County Court (Barry M. Donalty, J.), renderedJanuary 9, 2006. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of murder in the seconddegree, robbery in the first degree (four counts), criminal possession of a weapon in the seconddegree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.

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 offour counts of robbery in the first degree (Penal Law § 160.15 [1], [2], [3], [4]) and onecount each of murder in the second degree (§ 125.25 [3]), criminal possession of a weaponin the second degree (§ 265.03 [former (2)]), and criminal possession of a weapon in thethird degree (§ 265.02 [former (4)]). Viewing the evidence in light of the elements of thecrimes as charged to the jury (seePeople v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 349 [2007]), we conclude that the verdict is notagainst the weight of the evidence (see generally People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495[1987]). "The question of whether the defendant was acting under duress is primarily one ofcredibility, which is to be determined by the jury . . . [, and t]he jury'sdetermination should be accorded great weight on appeal and should not be disturbed unlessclearly unsupported by the record" (People v Torres, 158 AD2d 730, 731 [1990], lvdenied 76 NY2d 744 [1990]). Contrary to defendant's contention, County Court did notabuse its discretion in submitting to the jury the noninclusory concurrent counts of robbery in thefirst degree under Penal Law § 160.15 (2) and (4) (see People v Davis, 165 AD2d610, 612 [1991], lv denied 78 NY2d 1010 [1991]; see also People v Kulakov,278 AD2d 519, 520-521 [2000], lv denied 96 NY2d 785 [2001], reconsiderationdenied 9 NY3d 866 [2007]).

Defendant failed to preserve for our review his contention that the court erred in instructingthe jurors on the statutory presumption set forth in Penal Law § 265.15 (4) with respect todefendant's intent to commit the crime of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree(see People v Pulley, 302 AD2d 899 [2003], lv denied 100 NY2d 565 [2003]).We decline to exercise our power to review that contention as a matter of discretion in theinterest of justice (see CPL 470.15 [6] [a]). By failing to renew his motion for a trialorder of dismissal after presenting evidence, defendant also failed to preserve for our review[*2]his contention that the evidence is legally insufficient tosupport the conviction of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (see People v Lane, 7 NY3d 888,889 [2006]; People v Hines, 97 NY2d 56, 61 [2001], rearg denied 97 NY2d 678[2001]). Finally, the sentence is not unduly harsh or severe. Present—Hurlbutt, J.P.,Martoche, Smith, Centra and Peradotto, JJ.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.