| People v Burgess |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 09166 [90 AD3d 531] |
| Dcmbr 20, 2011 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v JasonBurgess, Appellant. |
—[*1] Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Ryan Gee of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Rena K. Uviller, J., at hearing; Bonnie G.Wittner, J., at jury trial and sentencing), rendered April 27, 2010, convicting defendant ofrobbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a termof seven years, unanimously affirmed.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence. Defendant's conduct went well beyondbeing merely present at the scene of a robbery. The evidence supports the inference thatdefendant intentionally assisted his companions by intimidating and partially encircling thevictim (see e.g. People v Snow, 303 AD2d 255 [2003], lv denied 99NY2d 658 [2003]; People v Edmonds, 267 AD2d 19 [1999], lv denied 94 NY2d862 [1999]).
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. Shortly after the police saw threemen running, they spoke with the victim, who said in substance that he been robbed by the threemen who had just run by. This provided, at least, reasonable suspicion upon which to detaindefendant and his two companions when the police saw them again, still in flight, a shortdistance away. Given the temporal and spatial factors, it was a reasonable inference that thesewere the same three men whom the victim was accusing of robbery.
Defendant's challenges to the prosecutor's summation are unpreserved and we decline toreview them in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we also reject them on the merits(see People v Overlee, 236 AD2d 133 [1997], lv denied 91 NY2d 976 [1998];People v [*2]D'Alessandro, 184 AD2d 114, 118-119[1992], lv denied 81 NY2d 884 [1993]). Where appropriate, the court took curativeactions that were sufficient to prevent any prejudice. Concur—Gonzalez, P.J., Mazzarelli,Andrias, Sweeny and RomÁn, JJ.