Commonwealth v. Sudler

112 N.E.3d 828
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedSeptember 28, 2018
DocketNo. 17-P-442
StatusPublished

This text of 112 N.E.3d 828 (Commonwealth v. Sudler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Sudler, 112 N.E.3d 828 (Mass. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

NEYMAN, J.

*830Following a jury trial in the Superior Court, the defendant, Steven Sudler, was convicted of battery with intent to intimidate causing bodily injury pursuant to G. L. c. 265, § 39 (b ), and a civil rights violation causing injury pursuant to G. L. c. 265, § 37.1 The central issue on appeal is whether the Commonwealth presented sufficient evidence that the injury suffered by the victim -- two cut fingers --constituted "bodily injury" within the meaning of § 39 (b ). We conclude that the evidence was insufficient to support the defendant's conviction under § 39 (b ) because the Commonwealth did not prove "substantial impairment of the physical condition" as required by the statute. As the Commonwealth presented abundant evidence to prove the lesser included offense of assault or battery with intent to intimidate under G. L. c. 265, § 39 (a ), we vacate the judgment on the charge of battery with intent to intimidate causing bodily injury and remand the matter for resentencing on the lesser included offense. We also conclude that the judge did not err in allowing the Commonwealth to exercise certain peremptory challenges to prospective jurors and that the defendant's argument to the contrary is unavailing.

Background. We summarize the evidence, and the reasonable inferences therefrom, in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. See Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671, 676-677, 393 N.E.2d 370 (1979). On the evening of August 3, 2014, the victim ventured toward Andrew subway station (station) in the South Boston section of Boston to meet a friend. On the way to the station, he made a telephone call to another friend, Lydia Cottrell. As he joked with Cottrell, he heard a vehicle door slam, heard someone call him "faggot,"2 and turned to see the defendant and the codefendant3 talking to him. The defendant continued to taunt the victim by calling him "faggot" and "saying a lot of stuff." As the defendant and the codefendant walked toward him, the victim noticed that the defendant held a knife in his hand, "by his side of his hip." The victim pulled out his own knife, an argument ensued, and the defendant "took a swing" at the victim. The victim "jumped back" and "took a swing back at [the defendant]." The parties exchanged words, *831and the defendant said, among other things, "I hate you South Boston niggers."4

The parties separated, and as the victim walked to the station he noticed "red dripping." He thought that the defendant had "cut the bottle" that the victim had been holding, and that the bottle "was leaking."5 The victim testified that he "didn't even notice that [he] got cut," but as he tried to shake his hand off, he then "noticed that [he] had a wound and it was just continuing dripping, and [he] was just losing a lot of blood." The victim subsequently saw that two fingers of his hand had been cut. One cut was located on the victim's left ring finger, which, according to his testimony, was "sliced from here to there ... [f]rom nearly the top to the joint." The other cut was to the middle finger and went "from this side near the joint from the middle to the end, the corner."

The defendant subsequently entered the station and again called the victim a "faggot." The two exchanged words again, and the defendant "launched" toward the victim. The victim leaned back and then stabbed the defendant in the shoulder. At some point, the victim had a further confrontation with a woman later identified as Latoya Brown, whom he had seen earlier with the defendants. After Brown grabbed some of the victim's belongings, he chased her, caught up to her, and stabbed her on the shoulder during an ensuing scuffle.6

Police officers eventually arrived at the scene. Emergency medical services (EMS) later tended to the victim. The victim was upset because EMS did not offer him antibiotics or any other services. "All they did was basically [give him] a Band Aid. That was basically it."

The victim's testimony was corroborated by various witnesses and physical evidence. Cottrell testified that during her telephone conversation with the victim, she heard "people arguing, and people throwing words at each other"; heard a man "saying faggot over and over"; and heard the victim say, "[O]uch, he cut me." A police officer recovered a knife from the defendant's pocket at the scene, and testified that it had blood on it. Surveillance video recordings depicting portions of the incident were also played for the jury.

The defense at trial centered on the victim's alleged lack of credibility and the Commonwealth's inability to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. In support of the defense, Brown testified and painted the victim as the aggressor in the encounter.

Discussion. 1. Bodily injury. The defendant contends that the evidence was insufficient to prove "bodily injury" as defined under G. L. c. 265, § 39 (b ).7 We review to determine "whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier *832of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. at 677, 393 N.E.2d 370, quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

" General Laws c. 265, § 39, criminalizes a particular kind of unlawful conduct -- the assault or battery of an individual arising from the perpetrator's specific intent to intimidate such person because of that person's membership in a protected group." Commonwealth v. Kelly, 470 Mass. 682, 689, 25 N.E.3d 288 (2015). Section 39 is sometimes referred to as a "hate crime" statute. Id. at 686, 25 N.E.3d 288

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Bluebook (online)
112 N.E.3d 828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-sudler-massappct-2018.