People v. Greer

49 A.D.2d 297, 374 N.Y.S.2d 224, 1975 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10900
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedNovember 6, 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 49 A.D.2d 297 (People v. Greer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Greer, 49 A.D.2d 297, 374 N.Y.S.2d 224, 1975 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10900 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

Witmer, J.

The principal question presented for review on this appeal is whether the court erred in denying defendant’s request that it charge the jury that they could find him guilty of coercion in the second degree as a lesser included crime of rape in the first degree. We conclude that upon the facts in this case the court should have so charged.

In July, 1974 complainant was 26 years old, employed and residing in an apartment in the City of Buffalo. After work on the 26th she went to her parents’ home for dinner. Thereafter she played softball until about 9:00 p.m. and then visited a girlfriend. They went to a bar for an hour and a half and drank two "screwdrivers”, and then went to another bar and had four more "screwdrivers”. At about 1:30 a.m. she drove to her apartment alone, parked her automobile in the street in front of it, and fell asleep therein.

Between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. defendant, a black, was walking on that street and saw complainant in her car. He opened the door, awakened her and asked her if she was all right, and she replied affirmatively. He told her that he was walking home to a distant part of Buffalo and she, in appreciation for his thoughtfulness, offered him a ride. He was a complete stranger to her, but she permitted him to drive the car. He first drove to the home of a friend whom he wished to see, and got out of the car. Complainant then got in the driver’s seat and when he returned, reporting that his friend was not home, he gave her directions as to where to drive. He had her make many turns so that she did not know where she was, and she testified that she became scared. She thought that he acted strangely. When they were in a commercial area he asked her to stop the car, and she did. Complainant testified [299]*299that when defendant started to get out of the car, she attempted to drive away. He immediately grabbed the key and put the car in parking gear. When he then got out of the car she tried to lock the door, but he grabbed it and got back in the car. She beeped the horn and he grabbed her arm and twisted it and dragged her out of the car. She resisted and screamed and he said, "Don’t make me mad”, and he put his hand over her mouth and on her throat. He said, "Do you know Mosely? I’m Mosely”. Complainant knew that Mosely had been connected with a rape and murder. Defendant dragged her to a truck loading dock 40 or 50 feet away where it was dark, and he threw her to the ground and started to undress her. She kept pushing him away. He took off his and her pants, and with no further resistance on her part he had sexual intercourse with her for about 10 minutes. At about 4:00 a.m. the lights of an approaching automobile appeared on the street, and defendant said, "Be quiet, it’s the cops”. Complainant then called out, "Help me, help me”. An officer with a flashlight came to the spot where they lay, and he found defendant still on top of complainant, and both of them naked from the waist down.

Complainant asserts that she did not resist defendant more and did not scratch him because he was large and she could not overpower him, and she was afraid for her life. She denied that she encouraged defendant in any way to make advances to her. She testified that except for twisting her arm and holding her so that she could not run away defendant did not strike her or treat her with violence. Because of fear for what he might do to her, after leaving the car she did no more than push him away, and after he had her pants off she made no resistance.

Complainant was taken to the hospital and examined. She did not complain of any injury, and told the doctor that she was all right. She also told him that she had been on and off birth control pills for three years.

The officer testified that when he arrived at the scene with gun in hand and turned the lights on the couple, defendant got up. The officer said, "What’s going on here?”, and defendant replied, "This is my woman”. The officer asked him her name and he admitted that he did not know. The officer said that complainant was crying and was covered with dirt.

Defendant testified that he was 21 years old, 5 feet 10 1/2 inches tall and weighed 238 pounds. On the night in question [300]*300at about 2:50 a.m. he was walking home and saw complainant sitting in her car; he recognized her and believed that her name was "Annie”. He asked her why she was sitting there and she said that she was waiting for someone; and she invited him to get in the car, which he did. They talked awhile, and he asked her to drive him home and she agreed; but he drove at first and then she drove. He testified that she passed two police stations en route and did not drive toward his home. She stopped on Indiana Street and said that she wanted to talk about her boyfriend with whom she had had an argument. After talking awhile he got out of the car to urinate and on returning, complainant was standing outside of the car, and they began to make love and kiss. They then walked to the loading dock area where he laid his jacket on the ground for her to lie on, and they were having sexual intercourse when the police arrived.

Defendant testified that he had known complainant for some time, having met her at a bar, and that he had had sexual intercourse with her on two prior occasions. He denied telling her that he was Mosely.

Defendant was indicted for rape in the first degree. On the above facts the question is whether defendant was entitled to a charge that the jury could find him guilty of coercion in the second degree, as a lesser included offense.

"A male is guilty of rape in the first degree when he engages in sexual intercourse with a female: 1. By forcible compulsion” (Penal Law, § 130.35, subd 1). In subdivision 8 of section 130.00 of the Penal Law, "Forcible compulsion” is defined as "physical force that overcomes earnest resistance; or a threat, express or implied, that places a person in fear of immediate death or serious physical injury to himself or another person, or in fear that he or another person will immediately be kidnapped” (emphasis supplied).

In contrast to the latter part of the definition of forcible compulsion, coercion in the second degree is defined as follows (Penal Law, § 135.60, subd 1), "A person is guilty of coercion in the second degree when he compels or induces a person to engage in conduct which the latter has a legal right to abstain from engaging in * * * by means of instilling in him a fear that, if the demand is not complied with, the actor or another will * * * 1. Cause physical injury to a person” (emphasis supplied).

"Lesser included offense” is defined in subdivision 37 of CPL [301]*3011.20 as follows: "When it is impossible to commit a particular crime without concomitantly committing, by the same conduct, another offense of lesser grade or degree, the latter is, with respect to the former, a 'lesser included offense.’ ”

It is well settled that "if, upon any view of the facts, a defendant could properly be found guilty of a lesser degree or an included crime, the trial judge must submit such lower offense” (People v Mussenden, 308 NY 558, 561-562). Thus, whether defendant was entitled to have the court charge the jury that they could find him guilty of coercion in the second degree depends upon whether, "there is a reasonable view of the evidence which would support a finding that the defendant committed such lesser offense but did not commit the greater” (CPL 300.50, subd 1; see, also, People v Asan, 22 NY2d 526, 529-530;

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 A.D.2d 297, 374 N.Y.S.2d 224, 1975 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10900, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-greer-nyappdiv-1975.