PEOPLE v. CHATWIN (2023)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Erika Edwards, J.), rendered November 29, 2018, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of unlawful surveillance in the second degree and attempted grand larceny in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 2 to 4 years and 1 year, respectively, unanimously affirmed.

The 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]).  The evidence adduced at trial supports the conclusion that defendant, while masking his conduct as typical phone use, surreptitiously recorded the naked complainant with his phone after a sexual encounter.  Defendant's surreptitious intent is further corroborated by the emails he subsequently exchanged with the complainant, in which he attempted to use the video to extort money from the complainant (see People v. Schreier, 22 N.Y.3d 494, 498, 982 N.Y.S.2d 822, 5 N.E.3d 985 [2014];  People v. Fraser, 159 A.D.3d 447, 69 N.Y.S.3d 484 [1st Dept. 2018], lv denied 31 N.Y.3d 1081, 79 N.Y.S.3d 103, 103 N.E.3d 1250 [2018]).