People v. Kancharla

A grand jury charged Defendants, the president and CEO of a leading materials testing company and the company’s vice-president, with engaging in a pattern of criminal activity while intentionally conducting and participating in the affairs of a criminal enterprise. The indictment alleged that Defendants committed or allowed certain of the company’s employees to engage in illegal acts involving the falsification of test results, improper inspections of construction projects, and double-billing of clients. After a jury trial, both defendants were convicted of enterprise corruption and several non-enterprise corruption offenses. The Appellate Division modified by vacating the enterprise corruption convictions on the basis that the convictions lacked sufficient proof and were against the weight of the evidence. Both parties appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed as modified, holding that the Appellate Division did not apply the proper legal standards when it reviewed the sufficiency of the evidence supporting Defendants’ convictions for enterprise corruption and that the People’s evidence was legally sufficient to support the enterprise corruption convictions. Remanded. View "People v. Kancharla" on Justia Law