| People v Jorge |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 02668 [71 AD3d 604] |
| March 30, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Edwin Jorge, Appellant. |
—[*1] Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Christopher P. Marinelli of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (A. Kirke Bartley, J.), rendered November 26,2007, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the third degree, and sentencing him,as a second felony offender, to a term of 3 to 6 years, unanimously affirmed.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of theevidence (see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 348-349 [2007]). There is no basis fordisturbing the jury's determinations concerning credibility. The element of force was establishedby evidence that after stealing an item from a store, defendant sprayed mace in the face of a storeemployee in an effort to prevent him from recovering the property. Contrary to defendant'sargument, there was ample evidence that he knew this person was a store employee. Sincedefendant was in possession of the stolen property while he was engaged in this use of force andnever discarded or even sought to relinquish it, the evidence supports the inference that hispurpose in using force was to retain control of the property and not merely to escape or defendhimself (see e.g. People v Brandley, 254 AD2d 185 [1998], lv denied 92 NY2d1028 [1998]). Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Sweeny, Nardelli, Acosta and Manzanet-Daniels,JJ.