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THE COURT OF APPEALS CANNOT REVIEW AN APPELLATE DIVISION’S WEIGHT-OF-THE-EVIDENCE RULING ABSENT THE APPELLATE DIVISION’S MANIFEST FAILURE TO CONSIDER THE ISSUE OR THE APPLICATION OF AN INCORRECT LEGAL STANDARD; NOT THE CASE HERE (CT APP). ​

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Troutman, affirming the Appellate Division, determined the record did not support the appellant’s argument that the Appellate Division failed to consider the weight-of-the-evidence or did so using an incorrect legal principle. Therefore the Court of Appeals could not review the weight of the evidence:

On appeal, the Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the judgment (220 AD3d 1223 [4th Dept 2023]). The Court held that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence, stating that, “[a]lthough a different verdict would not have been unreasonable,” the jury did not “fail[ ] to give the evidence the weight it should be accorded” … . …

In Baque, we recently clarified the Appellate Division’s role in reviewing the weight of the evidence in a case involving purely circumstantial evidence. In a circumstantial evidence case, the jury must conclude that ” ‘the inference of guilt is the only one that can fairly and reasonably be drawn from the facts, and that the evidence excludes beyond a reasonable doubt every reasonable hypothesis of innocence’ ” (Baque, 43 NY3d at 29 …). Observing that the Appellate Division’s function in conducting a weight review was to “independently assess all of the proof,” we explained that the Appellate Division, like the jury, must conclude that the evidence gives rise to such an inference … . We further reiterated in Baque that this Court has no power to review the Appellate Division’s decision regarding the weight of the evidence unless that Court ” ‘manifestly failed to consider the issue or did so using an incorrect legal principle’ ” … . * * *

Here, the Appellate Division expressly rejected defendant’s weight of the evidence challenge and did so by citing Bleakley and People v Danielson (9 NY3d 342, 349 [2007])—citations that we noted in Baque indicated that the Appellate Division applied the correct legal standard … .

… [W]e assume that the Appellate Division appropriately conducts its weight of the evidence review in a circumstantial evidence case, unless its decision manifestly demonstrates otherwise … . …

… [T]he Appellate Division cited …cases … indicating that the Appellate Division deferred to the jury’s credibility determinations and that it did not view this as an appropriate case in which to substitute its own credibility determinations for that of the jury … . …

In sum, Baque did not alter the longstanding principle that this Court “cannot review a weight of the evidence challenge unless the intermediate appellate court manifestly failed to consider the issue or did so using an incorrect legal principle” … . People v Anderson, 2026 NY Slip Op 00967, CtApp 2-19-26

Practice Point: Consult this opinion for the criteria for a Court-of-Appeals review of an Appellate Division’s weight-of-the-evidence ruling.

 

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