People v. Johnson

43 A.D.3d 288, 842 N.Y.S.2d 369
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided August 9, 2007·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinions

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ronald A. Zweibel, J., at suppression hearing; Renee A. White, J., at lineup application, jury trial and sentence), rendered May 18, 2004, convicting defendant of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 25 years to life and seven years, respectively, affirmed.

The evidence at trial overwhelmingly established defendant’s identity as the individual who, after a verbal argument with his brother, Amir Johnson, drew a pistol from his waistband and [289]*289fired a single shot at his brother as he fled. The fatal shot struck the victim in the back, with the bullet piercing a lung and the victim’s heart. Both of the witnesses who identified defendant at trial had excellent and extended opportunities to view defendant during the course of the argument. Both witnesses, moreover, identified defendant as the shooter at a lineup conducted nearly four years after the homicide, following defendant’s arrest in North Carolina. In addition, shortly after the shooting, defendant’s ex-girlfriend encountered him outside of her apartment. She asked him what was wrong and defendant, who was visibly distressed, said “they were looking for him.” In response to further inquiries, defendant twice explained that he might have killed his brother.

At the conclusion of the People’s case, defendant moved for a trial order of dismissal with respect to both the count of intentional murder (Penal Law § 125.25 [1]) and depraved indifference murder (Penal Law § 125.25 [2]), arguing only that “there is no reasonable view of the evidence, there is no connection to [defendant] and the murder in this case that meet [sic] the prima facie standard.” Although this motion was immediately denied, defendant renewed this motion at the close of all the evidence, contending that the count of intentional murder should be dismissed “on the ground that the People have failed to establish^ ] the intent necessary to satisfy proof beyond a reasonable doubt that [defendant] intended to in fact kill Amir Johnson.” As for the depraved indifference count, defendant argued only that “the same arguments would apply, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” Again, defendant’s motion was denied. The jury then acquitted defendant of the intentional murder count and of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon (possession with intent to use unlawfully against another) and convicted him of the count of depraved indifference murder and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Defendant’s principal claim on this appeal is a two-fold challenge to the sufficiency and weight of the evidence supporting the verdict convicting him of depraved indifference murder. Specifically, defendant argues that his action could have supported a finding only of intentional, not reckless, murder and that, even if his conduct were reckless, the proof was deficient with regard to the “uncommon brutality” essential to a conviction for depraved indifference murder. As defendant concedes, however, his challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence are not preserved for review. Indeed, defendant not only failed to move to dismiss on the specific grounds he raises on appeal, he failed to raise any specific objection to the sufficiency of the evi[290]*290dence in his motion to dismiss (see People v Gray, 86 NY2d 10, 19 [1995]; CPL 470.05 [2]).

We decline to review in the interest of justice the untimely challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence that defendant now advances. Moreover, at the most, given defendant’s failure to voice any objection to the court’s charge on the elements of the crime of depraved indifference murder, any challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence that defendant may be entitled to raise must be evaluated according to the court’s charge as given (see People v Sala, 95 NY2d 254, 260 [2000] [appellate review “limited to whether there was legally sufficient evidence . . . based on the court’s charge as given without exception“]; People v Dekle, 56 NY2d 835, 837 [1982] [limiting appellate review to whether “there is evidence from which a rational trier of fact could find the essential facts of the crime as those elements were charged to the jury without exception beyond a reasonable doubt”]).

Measured against this standard, the evidence was plainly sufficient. For several reasons grounded in the evidence, the jury reasonably could have concluded that defendant had intended not to kill but to cause serious physical injury. In this regard, we note that, according to one of the two eyewitnesses, defendant was some 30 feet away when defendant fired the pistol. Thus, the jury had a basis for concluding that defendant may not have intended that the bullet strike the victim where it did. As Justice Sandler stated, “with the possible exception of a contact wound . . . it is a matter of common experience that people who fire handguns do not always hit precisely the intended target” (People v Butler, 86 AD2d 811, 815 [1982, Sandler, J., dissenting], revd on dissenting mem 57 NY2d 664 [1982]). In addition, defendant fired only once and the jury heard no evidence that there had been a history of animosity between defendant and his brother or even that defendant had a motive to kill. For these very reasons, defense counsel urged in his summation that although the prosecution may have proven an intent to cause serious physical injury, there was no proof of an intent to kill.

The instructions to the jury on the elements of depraved indifference murder were entirely unremarkable in light of the then-applicable law. Under those instructions, the jury reasonably could have concluded, after finding that defendant intended to cause serious physical injury, that defendant acted with the recklessness required for depraved indifference murder (see People v Trappier, 87 NY2d 55, 59 [1995] [“Defendant, for example, could have fired at Hutchinson with the intent to cause [291]*291him only serious and protracted disfigurement and simultaneously consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that ... he would create a grave risk of . . . Hutchinson’s death”]; Fama v Commissioner of Correctional Servs., 235 F3d 804, 812 [2d Cir 2000] [the “jury could have concluded that Fama intended to cause bodily harm to Hawkins with a reckless disregard of the ultimate result of that harm”]). To be sure, in People v Suarez (6 NY3d 202 [2005]), which was decided more than two years after defendant’s trial, the Court of Appeals ruled otherwise, stating that “one who acts with the conscious intent to cause serious injury, and who succeeds in doing so, is guilty only of manslaughter in the first degree” (6 NY3d at 211). Defendant’s jury, however was not so instructed and this statement of the law in Suarez only underscores that defendant’s challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence are unpreserved.

Furthermore, under the instructions given to the jury, the jury also was entitled to conclude that the shooting had been committed “[u]nder circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life” (Penal Law § 125.25 [2]). The evidence, of course, must be sustained as legally sufficient whenever there is “any valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences [that] could lead a rational person to convict” (People v Santi, 3 NY3d 234, 246 [2004] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]).

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People v. Johnson, 43 A.D.3d 288, 842 N.Y.S.2d 369 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2007).

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