PRESS RELEASE
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: NOVEMBER 2, 2015
On Thursday, October 29, 2015, the Appellate Division, Third Department unanimously affirmed the November 26, 2013 conviction of Brian Allen upon a jury verdict convicting him of the crimes of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, grand larceny in the fourth degree and petit larceny.
Defendant’s conviction stems from an incident which occurred on March 30, 2013 inside the Trailways bus station in Kingston. On that date, while the defendant and victim were waiting at the bus station, defendant reached into the victim’s coat pocket and took his wallet. Eventually, the victim, a college student, was able to retrieve his wallet with the assistance of two female bystanders, at which point, the defendant hastily left the station. A Kingston patrol officer who responded within minutes, quickly located the defendant, who was placed under arrest, following a police-arranged show-up and found to have a switchblade knife in his possession.
Following his conviction, the defendant, a prior felony offender, was sentenced by County Court Judge Donald A. Williams to consecutive indeterminate terms of imprisonment of two to four years on his grand larceny in the fourth degree conviction and three and one-half to seven years on his criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree conviction and to a concurrent one year sentence on his petit larceny conviction.
On appeal, the defendant argued that his grand larceny and petit larceny convictions were against the weight of the evidence and that County Court erred in denying his motion to suppress his pre-Miranda statement to police that he possessed a pocketknife. In addition, the defendant maintained that County Court improperly allowed the People to submit proof regarding his prior convictions as part of their case-in-chief and gave incomplete instructions to the jury on the weapons possession count. All of these claims were, however, rejected by the Appellate Division, Third Department.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Mitch Kessler, Esq. of Cohoes, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.
