How not to do a drive-by

People v Johnson, 2012 NY Slip Op 02965 [4th Dept 2012]

I'm no expert, but I think the drive-by shooting (as opposed to a regular, on-foot shooting) has three distinct advantages: there is a bit of intimidation involved, what with the high speed and the surprise; being in a car allows the shooter to get away from the scene quickly, and; the car provides some cover for the shooter, making identification more difficult and providing some cover from any return fire.* The defendant and his compatriot in Johnson managed to do a drive-by that accomplished none of those goals, and it was down to their choice of a vehicle: a moped. As explained by the Court, "just prior to the shooting defendant was driving a moped on which the defendant was a passenger. Immediately before the codefendant fired a shot or shot toward a vehicle, defendant stopped the moped." Probably best not to use a vehicle that you actually need to stop in order to fire your weapon. You just end up looking like these guys:



On the plus side, the moped allowed the defendant to "swerve" and "maneuver" around some police cars before being caught. The defendant--the driver of the moped--argued on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for possessing the weapon fired by his co-defendant. The Fourth Department held that it could be inferred from the evidence that "defendant was aware that the codefendant had a loaded firearm, and that he aided the codefendant in that possession inasmuch as he stopped the moped in order for the codefendant to be able to line up his target and fire." Ergo, accomplice liability. * It is possible I have given this too much thought.