People v. Bonilla

51 A.D.3d 585, 860 N.Y.S.2d 16

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: May 29, 2008
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (William A. Wetzel, J.), rendered March 13, 2006, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the second degree (two counts), reckless endangerment in the first degree and resisting arrest, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of seven years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly rejected defendant’s request for a justification charge since there was no reasonable view of the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to defendant, that would support such a charge (see People v Cox, 92 NY2d 1002 [1998]). Such a defense would have called upon the jury to speculate as to an alternative scenario that was not supported by any evidence. Neither the physical evidence nor any testimony supported such a view.

Defendant’s challenge to the court’s reasonable doubt charge is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. The court satisfied its obligation to instruct the jury that the People had the burden of proving defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and there was no mode of proceedings error exempt from preservation requirements (see People v Brown, 7 NY3d 880 [2006]; People v Agramonte, 87 NY2d 765, 769-770 [1996]; People v Thomas, 50 NY2d 467, 472 [1980]). Concur—Lippman, P.J., Tom, Gonzalez, Buckley and Renwick, JJ.