PEOPLE v. STEWART (2004)

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Richmond County (Rooney, J.), rendered June 14, 2002, convicting him of murder in the second degree, aggravated criminal contempt, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's posttrial motion to dismiss on the ground that the People failed to prove a prima facie case was not sufficiently specific to preserve for appellate review his claim with respect to the issue of identity (see CPL 470.05[2];  People v. Gray, 86 N.Y.2d 10, 629 N.Y.S.2d 173, 652 N.E.2d 919).   In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620, 467 N.Y.S.2d 349, 454 N.E.2d 932), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.   Moreover, upon the exercise of our factual review power, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see CPL 470.15[5] ).

The defendant's contention that the trial court should have given a circumstantial evidence charge is not preserved for appellate review (see CPL 470.05[2];  People v. Kitchens, 268 A.D.2d 444, 701 N.Y.S.2d 630) and, in any event, is without merit.