People v Knighton
2013 NY Slip Op 06213 [109 AD3d 1205]
September 27, 2013
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, October 30, 2013


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, vRobert Knighton, Appellant.

[*1]The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc., Buffalo (Robert B. Hallborg, Jr., ofcounsel), for defendant-appellant.

Frank A. Sedita, III, District Attorney, Buffalo (Matthew B. Powers of counsel), forrespondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Erie County Court (Thomas P. Franczyk, J.),rendered July 12, 2011. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a nonjury verdict, ofcriminal contempt in the first degree.

It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum: On appeal from a judgment convicting him upon a nonjury verdict ofcriminal contempt in the first degree (Penal Law § 215.51 [c]), defendant contendsthat the verdict is against the weight of the evidence. We reject that contention. Viewingthe evidence in light of the elements of the crime in this nonjury trial (see People v Danielson, 9NY3d 342, 349 [2007]), and affording great deference to County Court's credibilitydeterminations (see People vWhite, 43 AD3d 1407, 1408 [2007], lv denied 9 NY3d 1010 [2007]),we conclude that the verdict is not against the weight of the evidence (see generallyPeople v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]). We note, however, that the certificateof conviction incorrectly recites that defendant was convicted of criminal contempt in thefirst degree under Penal Law § 215.51 (b) (v), and it must therefore be amended toreflect that he was convicted of that crime under Penal Law § 215.51 (c) (see People v Saxton, 32 AD3d1286, 1286 [2006]). Present—Centra, J.P., Peradotto, Carni and Lindley, JJ.


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