People v Garcia
2017 NY Slip Op 02893 [149 AD3d 508]
April 13, 2017
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, May 31, 2017


[*1]
 The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Hugo Garcia, Appellant.

Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Denise Fabiano of counsel), for appellant.

Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Ramandeep Singh of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Robert A. Sackett, J.), rendered August 25, 2011, convicting defendant, after a nonjury trial, of attempted assault in the third degree, attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, menacing in the third degree, and harassment in the second degree, and sentencing him to one year of probation, unanimously affirmed.

The court's verdict, rejecting defendant's justification defense, was not against the weight of the evidence. There is no basis for disturbing the court's credibility determinations, including its evaluation of the possible biases of witnesses. Although defendant's testimony was supported by that of several witnesses, it is the quality of the testimony that controls, not the number of witnesses who testify. Concur—Friedman, J.P., Richter, Mazzarelli, Feinman and Gische, JJ.