1. An apparatus for electro-optically reading, by image capture, a selected target from a picklist having a plurality of targets over a range of working distances, the apparatus comprising: a housing; an aiming light assembly energizable between an energized state in which an aiming light pattern is projected on the picklist, and a deenergized state in which no aiming light pattern is projected; an imaging assembly supported by the housing, for capturing an image of the picklist in the range over an imaging field of view; a memory for storing expected coordinates of a trajectory of the aiming light pattern in the imaging field of view over the range; and a controller operatively connected to the memory, for processing the captured image along the trajectory to find and identify a target, for determining whether the target covers the trajectory before the aiming light assembly is set to the energized state, and for determining that the target is the selected target when the target at least partially covers the trajectory.