People v. Foster

52 A.D.3d 957, 860 N.Y.S.2d 273
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided June 12, 2008·Published·Cited by 30 cases

Opinion

Kavanagh, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Albany County (Breslin, J.), rendered November 1, 2006, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of assault in the second degree and assault in the third degree.

After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of assault in the second degree and assault in the third degree and was subse[958]*958quently sentenced to four years in prison, to be followed by two years of postrelease supervision, on the second degree assault charge, and one year in prison on the third degree assault charge, with the sentences to run concurrently. Defendant now appeals, claiming that neither conviction was supported by legally sufficient evidence and that each was against the weight of the evidence. He also argues that he was deprived of a fair trial as a result of certain evidentiary rulings made by County Court and the sentence imposed was harsh and excessive. Because we find that none of his claims has merit, we now affirm the judgment of conviction.

Defendant, age 45, resided with his parents in their home in the Village of Voorheesville, Albany County. Early one morning in December 2005, defendant’s mother had just retrieved the newspaper from the front steps of their home and was ascending the staircase to the kitchen, when defendant suddenly confronted her and began berating her, accusing her of being a man dressed as a woman. Defendant grabbed his mother, knocked off her glasses, pulled down her pajama bottoms and dragged her down two flights of stairs. The mother yelled to defendant’s father, who was upstairs, for help and for him to call 911. Defendant intercepted the father before he could make the call; they struggled and, ultimately, both fell against the front glass storm door of the premises, shattering it. While the father was involved with defendant, the mother called 911 and both she and the father were able to make their way to the garage where they locked themselves in their car and waited for help. Five uniform members of the Albany County Sheriff’s Department arrived shortly thereafter and, after speaking with the mother, confronted defendant inside the house and identified themselves as law enforcement. Ultimately, but not until after defendant had struck one deputy in the mouth, the deputies were able to subdue defendant and place him under arrest.

Defendant initially argues that the evidence at trial was legally insufficient to establish that at the time of the confrontation with either his mother or the deputies, he formed the requisite intent to commit either assault. We disagree. As for the crime of assault in the second degree, the People were required to present competent evidence that defendant caused physical injury to a police officer with the intent to prevent that officer from performing his or her lawful duty (see Penal Law § 120.05 [3]). A defendant acts intentionally when his or her “conscious objective is to cause [a] result or to engage in such conduct” (Penal Law § 15.05 [1]) and intent may be inferred from a defendant’s “conduct and the surrounding circum[959]*959stances” (People v Zindle, 48 AD3d 971, 973 [2008]; see People v Scott, 47 AD3d 1016, 1019 [2008]). While defendant argues that his mental state at the time of the incident precluded him from forming an intent to commit the crime, his actions suggest otherwise.

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People v. Foster, 52 A.D.3d 957, 860 N.Y.S.2d 273 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2008).

52 A.D.3d 957 (People v. Foster) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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