People State New York v. Saverio Maimone

[9 A.D.2d 780 Page 780] Appeal from a judgment of the County Court, Kings County, rendered April 22, 1958, sentencing appellant to serve from 2
1/2 to 5 years, after he had been found guilty by a jury of being an accessory to a felony (Penal Law, 2). Judgment unanimously
affirmed. Appellant, Thomas Akel, Salvatore Giordano, Robert Douglas Williams and five others were indicted for being accessories
to a felony (Penal Law, 2) in that, after one Basile had committed the felony of unlawfully possessing narcotic drugs, appellant
and his co-defendants, acting in concert and aiding and abetting each other and pursuant to a common plan or scheme, harbored,
concealed and aided Basile with intent that he might avoid and escape from arrest, trial, conviction and punishment, with
knowledge and reasonable grounds to believe that Basile had committed said felony. Under the charge of the court, to which
there was no exception and which thus was the law of the case, the evidence was sufficient to justify the finding implicit
in the jury's verdict that Basile, the principal witness against appellant and his co-defendants, was not an accomplice. His
testimony, therefore, did not require corroboration as provided by section 399 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the
proof was sufficient to sustain the verdict. Considerable evidence was received, as to transactions between Basile and the
defendants other than appellant, involving the illegal possession and sale of narcotics. There was no claim that appellant
took any part in such transactions or even had any knowledge of them. This evidence was properly received as against those
defendants who [9 A.D.2d 780 Page 781]