People v. Johnstone

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

People v. Johnstone

184 A.D.2d 929, 584 N.Y.S.2d 952, 1992 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8160

CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

DecidedJune 18, 1992

StatusPublished

Cited by4 cases

This text of 184 A.D.2d 929 (People v. Johnstone) 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. Johnstone, 184 A.D.2d 929, 584 N.Y.S.2d 952, 1992 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8160 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1992).

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Opinion

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Vogt, J.), rendered April 23, 1991, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of manslaughter in the first degree.

The sole issue raised by defendant on this appeal is that the prison sentence he received of 7 to 21 years is harsh and excessive. We disagree. To mitigate the gravity of the offense, defendant points to his lack of a significant criminal record and the fact that the jury found that he was acting under extreme emotional disturbance when he committed the acts charged. Nevertheless, the jury still found him guilty of intentionally killing another person. Extreme emotional disturbance does not negate the intentional nature of the killing, but rather constitutes a mitigating factor which reduces what would otherwise be a murder into manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20 [2]). We also note the brutal nature of the crime. The victim, who was 60 years old at the time, a female and intoxicated, was struck in the back of the head nine times with a hammer. In our view, insofar as County Court did not impose the harshest possible sentence, 8Vi to 25 years, any mitigating or extenuating circumstances were already considered by the court (see, People v Ambrose, 160 AD2d 1097, lv denied 76 NY2d 784).

Mikoll, J. P., Levine, Mercure, Crew III and Harvey, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

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Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Ulster County (Vogt, J.), rendered April 23, 1991, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of manslaughter in the first degree.

The sole issue raised by defendant on this appeal is that the prison sentence he received of 7 to 21 years is harsh and excessive. We disagree. To mitigate the gravity of the offense, defendant points to his lack of a significant criminal record and the fact that the jury found that he was acting under extreme emotional disturbance when he committed the acts charged. Nevertheless, the jury still found him guilty of intentionally killing another person. Extreme emotional disturbance does not negate the intentional nature of the killing, but rather constitutes a mitigating factor which reduces what would otherwise be a murder into manslaughter in the first degree (Penal Law § 125.20 [2]). We also note the brutal nature of the crime. The victim, who was 60 years old at the time, a female and intoxicated, was struck in the back of the head nine times with a hammer. In our view, insofar as County Court did not impose the harshest possible sentence, 8Vi to 25 years, any mitigating or extenuating circumstances were already considered by the court (see, People v Ambrose, 160 AD2d 1097, lv denied 76 NY2d 784).

Mikoll, J. P., Levine, Mercure, Crew III and Harvey, JJ., concur. Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

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Bluebook (online)

184 A.D.2d 929, 584 N.Y.S.2d 952, 1992 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-johnstone-nyappdiv-1992.

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