An appeals court decided not to change a robber's conviction even though it was his hand, not a firearm, under his hoodie. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
Charles Smith's gun may have been fake, but a New York Court of Appeals ruling against him is very real.
Per the Wall Street Journal, the court decided Tuesday to retain Smith's conviction of attempted first-degree robbery instead of reducing the charge, even though it was Smith's hand, not a firearm, under his hoodie when he told a teller at a Queens check-cashing store he had a gun and demanded money.
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The court says that, based on an interpretation of New York's penal law regarding robbery, the teller reasonably could have thought Smith really had a gun, warranting the higher charge.
To bolster its decision for this 2011 case, the court cited a previous 1989 case it had ruled on in which it said the ball was in the defendant's court to prove there was no gun, the New York Law Journal reports.
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