Case ID: ad2d_306/html/0164-01.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 Gilbert Cotto, Appellant.
    [760 NYS2d 327]
   —Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Caesar Cirigliano, J.), rendered February 26, 2002, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of possession of a stolen vehicle in violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 426, and sentencing him to a term of IV3 to 4 years, unanimously affirmed.

The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. The scienter element under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 426 is that the defendant “knows, or has reason to believe, [the vehicle] has been stolen.” That element could be readily inferred from evidence that the vehicle had several obvious and specific indicia of being a stolen car. Concur — Nardelli, J.P., Tom, Rosenberger and Gonzalez, JJ.