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ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION CONVICTION NOT SUPPORTED BY LEGALLY SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF DEFENDANT’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE ENTERPRISE AND HIS INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN AFFAIRS OF THE ENTERPRISE (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a memorandum decision supplemented with an extensive concurring opinion, determined that the defendant’s conviction of enterprise corruption (Penal Law 460.20) was not supported by legally sufficient evidence:

… [T]he proof elicited at trial was not legally sufficient to establish the elements of defendant’s knowledge of the existence of the subject criminal enterprise and the nature of its affairs or his intent to participate in such affairs … .

On the mens rea element, the People were required to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant, “having knowledge of the existence of a criminal enterprise and the nature of its activities,” and, “being employed by or associated with such enterprise . . . intentionally conduct[ed] or participate[d] in the affairs of an enterprise” … . Consistent with this statutory mens rea requirement, the trial court additionally instructed the jury, without objection, that the People were required to show that defendant had “chosen to be part of the group and to have worked as a member of it or in affiliation with it to achieve its criminal purposes.”

Here, the evidence of defendant’s knowledge of the existence of the criminal enterprise and his intention to participate in its affairs fell short as a matter of law. The evidence of defendant’s participation in the three requisite criminal acts included in the pattern activity alone does not establish defendant’s knowledge of the existence of the criminal enterprise and the nature of its activities. In addition, the critical trial testimony of the People’s cooperating witness demonstrated that defendant was isolated from — rather than employed by or associated with — the enterprise, and that defendant acted independently on his own behalf, with the singular purpose of serving his own interests. People v Jones, 2018 NY Slip Op 08058, CtApp 11-27-18

CRIMINAL LAW (ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION CONVICTION NOT SUPPORTED BY LEGALLY SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF DEFENDANT’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE ENTERPRISE AND HIS INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN AFFAIRS OF THE ENTERPRISE (CT APP))/ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION (EVIDENCE, ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION CONVICTION NOT SUPPORTED BY LEGALLY SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF DEFENDANT’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE ENTERPRISE AND HIS INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN AFFAIRS OF THE ENTERPRISE (CT APP))/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION CONVICTION NOT SUPPORTED BY LEGALLY SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF DEFENDANT’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE ENTERPRISE AND HIS INTENT TO PARTICIPATE IN AFFAIRS OF THE ENTERPRISE (CT APP))

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