People v. Genao (Elvin)

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: June 18, 2020
• Docket: 2020 NYSlipOp 50700(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

Elvin Genao, Defendant-Appellant.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Joanne B. Watters, J.), rendered on May 31, 2018, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of harassment in the second degree, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment of conviction (Joanne B. Watters, J.), rendered on May 31, 2018, affirmed.

Since defendant waived prosecution by information, the accusatory instrument only had to satisfy the reasonable cause requirement of a misdemeanor complaint (see People v Dumay, 23 NY3d 518, 522 [2014]). So viewed, the accusatory instrument—comprising the misdemeanor complaint and the domestic incident report signed by complainant—was jurisdictionally valid, since it provided reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of second-degree harassment (see Penal Law § 240.26[1]), the offense to which he ultimately pleaded guilty. Allegations that defendant, the father of complainant's son, called his son to "tell him bad stuff about" complainant, and then telephoned the complainant and stated "when I see you, I will knock your teeth out," were sufficient at the pleading stage to support a finding that defendant made a "genuine threat" to physically harm complainant (People v Dietze, 75 NY2d 47, 54 [1989]; see Matter of Czop v Czop, 21 AD3d 958, 959 [2005]; People v Lopez, 50 Misc 3d 139[A], 2016 NY Slip Op 50165[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2016], lv denied 27 NY3d 1071 [2016]).

All concur.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.

Clerk of the Court

Decision Date: June 18, 2020