EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT CONVICTION, PRESENCE WHEN CONSPIRACY DISCUSSED BY OTHER GANG MEMBERS NOT ENOUGH (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, over a two-judge dissent, affirming the appellate division, determined the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction of conspiracy in the second degree. The defendant’s mere presence when the conspiracy was discussed by other gang members was not enough:

… [A]t the core of the People’s case is evidence of defendant’s presence at various gang meetings at which the crime intended was discussed by gang members other than defendant. Under the circumstances of this case, to conclude that defendant’s presence at such gatherings alone was sufficient to establish agreement to join a plot would be to equate his passive act of “being present” with the affirmative act of “agreeing” to engage in a criminal conspiracy discussed at those assemblies. The law does not contain a presumption of agreement based on sheer presence at a meeting at which a conspiracy is discussed … , and we share the view of the federal courts that mere “[k]nowledge of the existence and goals of a conspiracy does not itself make one a coconspirator” … . People v Reyes, 2018 NY Slip Op 01113, CtApp 2-15-18

CRIMINAL LAW (CONSPIRACY, EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT CONVICTION, PRESENCE WHEN CONSPIRACY DISCUSSED BY OTHER GANG MEMBERS NOT ENOUGH (CT APP))/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, CONSPIRACY, EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT CONVICTION, PRESENCE WHEN CONSPIRACY DISCUSSED BY OTHER GANG MEMBERS NOT ENOUGH (CT APP))/CONSPIRACY (CRIMINAL LAW, EVIDENCE OF CONSPIRACY NOT SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT CONVICTION, PRESENCE WHEN CONSPIRACY DISCUSSED BY OTHER GANG MEMBERS NOT ENOUGH (CT APP))