People v. Nelson (Edward)

Opinion

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

against

Edward Nelson, Defendant-Appellant.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Erika M. Edwards, J.), rendered October 27, 2014, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of assault in the third degree, and imposing sentence.

Per Curiam.

Judgment of conviction (Erika M. Edwards, J.), rendered October 27, 2014, affirmed.

The misdemeanor complaint was not jurisdictionally defective (see People v Dumay, 23 NY3d 518 [2014]). It charged all the elements of third-degree assault (see Penal Law § 120.00[1]), and set forth sufficient factual allegations to warrant the conclusion that defendant intended to and did cause the victim to suffer a "physical injury," i.e., "substantial pain" (see Penal Law § 10.00[9]). Accepting the allegations as true, a trier of fact could infer that when defendant "punch[ed]" the victim "in the left side of his jaw with a closed fist," he caused substantial pain (see People v Henderson, 92 NY2d 677, 680 [1999]; see People v Mercado, 94 AD3d 502 [2012], lv denied 19 NY3d 999 [2012]; People v Lang, 81 AD3d 538 [2011], lv denied 16 NY3d 896 [2011]), a term which simply means "more than slight or trivial pain" (People v Chiddick, 8 NY3d 445, 447 [2007]; see Penal Law § 10.00[9]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.

I concur I concur I concur
Decision Date: October 15, 2018