Case ID: ad2d_112/html/0382-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Reggie Lawrence, Appellant.
   Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Starkey, J.), rendered March 29, 1982, convicting him of robbery in the first degree and attempted robbery in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Judgment affirmed.

The evidence of defendant’s guilt adduced at trial, which included the testimony of two eyewitnesses, both of whom had ample opportunity to view defendant during the commission of the crimes, and both of whom recognized defendant as the man they had previously seen in their neighborhood, constituted overwhelming proof of guilt (see, People v Contes, 60 NY2d 620, 621).

While the trial court should have expressly instructed the jury that the People’s burden of proving defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt attached to each and every element of the crimes charged, the significance of the requirement that defendant be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt was adequately explained, and we find that the charge, in its entirety, sufficiently conveyed the appropriate burden of proof to the jury (People v Francis, 99 AD2d 841).

We have considered defendant’s other contentions and find them to be without merit. Brown, J. P., Rubin, Lawrence and Kunzeman, JJ., concur.