Opinion
7789 Dkt. 59443/13N
12-04-2018
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. David BOOKARD, Defendant–Appellant.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (William B. Carney of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Jeffrey A. Wojcik of counsel), for respondent.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (William B. Carney of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Jeffrey A. Wojcik of counsel), for respondent.
Sweeny, J.P., Manzanet–Daniels, Gische, Tom, Moulton, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Daniel P. FitzGerald, J.), rendered October 30, 2013, convicting defendant, after a nonjury trial, of sexual abuse in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of 70 days, unanimously affirmed.
The prosecutor's information was not jurisdictionally defective (see People v. Kalin, 12 N.Y.3d 225, 228, 878 N.Y.S.2d 653, 906 N.E.2d 381 [2009] ). The described conduct, as observed by an officer on a subway train, supported reasonable inferences that defendant acted for the purpose of sexual gratification and without the victim's consent.
The court's verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ). There is no basis for disturbing the court's credibility determinations. Although the victim did not testify, the officer's observations likewise established the elements of third-degree sexual abuse.