People v. Moore

51 Misc. 3d 6, 28 N.Y.S.3d 552
Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York·Decided December 31, 2015·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

Ordered that the judgment of conviction is affirmed.

Defendant was charged, in a prosecutor’s information, with attempted assault in the third degree (Penal Law §§ 110.00, [8]*8120.00 [1]), attempted criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation (Penal Law §§ 110.00, 121.11 [a]), menacing in the third degree (Penal Law § 120.15), and harassment in the second degree (Penal Law § 240.26 [1]), based on allegations that defendant had beaten and choked his female companion. At a nonjury trial, the arresting officer testified that, while on motor patrol, she was flagged down by the victim, who was “crying, bleeding from the left side of her face, . . . highly upset,” and exhibiting “bruising and swelling.” The officer asked her “what was wrong,” whereupon the victim “pointed to the defendant,” who stood nearby among a crowd of onlookers, and stated that he had “assaulted” her. The victim’s statement was received into evidence, over objection, under the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. After photographs of the victim, taken shortly after the incident by the arresting officer, were admitted without objection, the People rested their case, noting that the victim, having apparently left the District Attorney’s jurisdiction, would not testify. The defense moved for a trial order of dismissal, arguing that the victim’s statement that defendant had “assaulted” her was “conclusory,” that the People’s failure to establish the time between the incident and the victim’s statement rendered it inadmissible as an excited utterance, and that, without the statement, the People’s proof was legally insufficient. The Criminal Court reserved decision on the motion, and the defense rested without presenting a case. Without ruling on the motion, the court convicted defendant of attempted assault in the third degree and acquitted defendant of the remaining charges. On appeal, defendant raises the arguments made in support of the dismissal motion, adding that, even if the victim’s statement was properly admitted, the proof was legally insufficient to establish defendant’s intent to commit the offense, and, if legally sufficient, the conviction was against the weight of the evidence.

An excited utterance results from “the stress of excitement caused by an external event sufficient to still . . . reflective faculties, thereby preventing opportunity for deliberation which might lead the declarant to be untruthful” (People v Edwards, 47 NY2d 493, 497 [1979]; see also People v Johnson, 1 NY3d 302, 306 [2003] [an excited utterance is one made “under the immediate and uncontrolled domination of the senses, and during the brief period when considerations of self-interest could not have been brought fully to bear by reasoned reflection”], [9] quoting People v Marks, 6 NY2d 67, 71 [1959]). It is “[t]he spontaneity of the declaration [that] guarantees its trustworthiness and reliability” (People v Cantave, 21 NY3d 374, 381 [2013]). The trial courts are accorded “wide discretion” in determining whether the standard of admissibility of such statements has been met, and their rulings “should not be disturbed on appeal” absent an abuse of that discretion (People v Carroll, 95 NY2d 375, 385 [2000]). There is no dispute as to the victim’s “agitated or stressed condition” at the time of the statement, and it cannot be said that the exception is inapplicable because it was uttered in response to a question (Edwards, 47 NY2d at 498-499; People v Gantt, 48 AD3d 59, 64 [2007]), which is “merely” a factor bearing on the analysis of a statement’s admissibility (People v Brown, 70 NY2d 513, 519 [1987]; see e.g. People v Fratello, 92 NY2d 565, 570-571 [1998]). Here, the challenge to the statement is based principally on the lack of evidence as to the precise time that elapsed between the attack and the accusation, which, defendant contends, renders the foundation proof insufficient to establish that the victim spoke with genuine spontaneity, uninfluenced by “the impetus of studied reflection” (Edwards, 47 NY2d at 497). Addressing this factor, the Johnson court stated:

“As we have several times noted, there can be no definite or fixed period of time within which the declaration must have been made, and each case must depend upon its own circumstances. ‘The test is whether the utterance was made before there has been time to contrive and misrepresent, i.e., while the nervous excitement may be supposed still to dominate and the reflective powers to be yet in abeyance’ (People v Brown, 70 NY2d 513, 518 [1987] . . . ). Ultimately, ‘the time for reflection is not measured in minutes or seconds, but rather is measured by facts’ (People v Vasquez, 88 NY2d 561, 579 [1996] ...)....
“[T]he test [is] . . . whether the declarant is capable of studied reflection and therefore incapable of fabrication” (1 NY3d at 306-307; see also People v Cotto, 92 NY2d 68, 79 [1998]).

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People v. Moore, 51 Misc. 3d 6, 28 N.Y.S.3d 552 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2015).

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