People v. Ramirez

118 A.D.3d 1108, 987 N.Y.S.2d 496
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided June 12, 2014·Published·Cited by 22 cases

Opinion

Stein, J.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the County Court of Rensselaer County (Jacon, J.), rendered September 18, 2008, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of manslaughter in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, (2) from a judgment of said court, rendered September 18, 2008, which revoked defendant’s probation and imposed a sentence of imprisonment, and (3) from a judgment of said court, rendered November 13, 2008, which resentenced defendant.

During the early afternoon hours of May 10, 2007, defendant’s brother engaged in a fistfight with a friend of the victim, during which defendant and the victim also fought and defendant allegedly struck the victim in the head with a brick. The following day, the victim and two friends were walking up the street and encountered defendant, his brother and two of their friends. The victim approached that group and confronted defendant about the previous day’s events. Defendant refused to engage in a conversation about the incident and the victim and his friends continued up the street. Shortly thereafter, defendant and his group headed back down the street and the victim and his friends followed. The victim again approached defendant and the two briefly exchanged words, after which defendant stabbed the victim twice with a knife and then fled. As a result of the stab wounds, the victim died a short time later.

Thereafter, defendant was indicted for murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. Defendant was tried by a jury and, at the close of the proof, sought a justification instruction. County Court granted defendant’s request for such instruction with respect to the murder charge over the People’s objection. The court also granted defendant’s request to charge the jury with the lesser included offenses of manslaughter in the second degree and criminally negligent homicide. Following deliberations, the jury found defendant not guilty with respect to the murder charge, but found him guilty of manslaughter in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.

Prior to sentencing, defendant moved pursuant to CPL 330.30 to set aside the verdict on the ground that the court erred by failing to charge the jury with the justification defense with re[1110] spect to the lesser included offenses. At sentencing, County Court denied defendant’s motion and, after defendant admitted to his conviction of a prior felony, sentenced him to an aggregate prison term of 6 to 15 years. Defendant thereafter admitted to violating previously-imposed conditions of probation and was sentenced to an additional three-year prison term followed by two years of postrelease supervision, to be served consecutively to the sentence for defendant’s instant crimes. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction for the instant crimes, as well as from the finding that he violated his probation. County Court subsequently determined that the original sentence was contrary to statute and resentenced defendant to an aggregate prison term of l112 to 15 years for the instant crimes, with no change to the sentence imposed for his violation of probation. Defendant also appeals from his resentencing.

We affirm. We first address defendant’s contention that the evidence was legally insufficient and that his conviction was against the weight of the evidence. Preliminarily, we note that defendant’s challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence was not preserved for our review, as he failed to renew his motion to dismiss on that ground at the close of all proof (see People v Menegan, 107 AD3d 1166, 1169 [2013]; People v Lapi, 105 AD3d 1084, 1085 n 1 [2013], lv denied 21 NY3d 1043 [2013]). Nevertheless, whether the elements of the crimes charged were adequately proven is necessarily evaluated in our weight of the evidence review (see People v Simmons, 111 AD3d 975, 977-978 [2013], lv denied 22 NY3d 1203 [2014]; People v Menegan, 107 AD3d at 1169; People v Bjork, 105 AD3d 1258, 1259-1260 [2013], lv denied 21 NY3d 1040 [2013], cert denied 571 US —, 134 S Ct 1306 [2014]). With respect to that inquiry, where a different verdict would not have been unreasonable, this Court must “weigh the relative probative force of conflicting testimony and the relative strength of conflicting inferences that may be drawn from the testimony” (People v Tinkler, 105 AD3d 1140, 1141 [2013], lv denied 21 NY3d 1020 [2013] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]; People v Tubbs, 115 AD3d 1009, 1010 [2014]), according appropriate deference to the jury’s “ ‘opportunity to view the witnesses, hear the testimony and observe demeanor’ ” (People v Tompkins, 107 AD3d 1037, 1038 [2013], lv denied 22 NY3d 1044 [2013], quoting People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d at 495; accord People v Cridelle, 112 AD3d 1141, 1143 [2013]).

Here, the jury heard from both of the victim’s friends who witnessed the incident and testified that, as the victim approached defendant and the two began to argue, defendant hit [1111] the victim using a stabbing motion, after which the victim bled profusely. Any inconsistencies between that testimony and statements originally given by these witnesses to the police were thoroughly explored through cross-examination at trial and presented credibility issues for the jury to determine (see People v O’Daniel, 105 AD3d 1144, 1147-1148 [2013], lv granted 21 NY3d 1018 [2013]; People v McCray, 102 AD3d 1000, 1003-1004 [2013], affd 23 NY3d 193 [2014]). Further, the county medical examiner testified that the victim suffered two stab wounds to the left side of his torso, one of which made a small perforation in his stomach and the other of which went completely through his heart, resulting in his death. In addition, a knife was found in close proximity to the crime scene and the DNA profile of a blood stained swab from the blade matched both defendant and the victim, while defendant’s DNA was also found on the handle. An acquaintance of defendant also testified that defendant ran past him around the time of the incident, looked scared and stated to his brother that he had “killed that son of a bitch.” Another witness, who was incarcerated with defendant at the county jail, testified that defendant had bragged about the crime and stated that he was going to make up a story that he had stabbed the victim in self-defense. Such evidence demonstrated that defendant, unprovoked by any physical aggression on the part of the victim, struck him twice in the torso with a knife and the inferences that may be drawn from that evidence were sufficient to support a finding that defendant intended to use the knife unlawfully (see People v Brown, 100 AD3d 1035, 1036-1037 [2012], lv denied 20 NY3d 1009 [2013]; People v Purvis, 90 AD3d 1339, 1340 [2011], lv denied 18 NY3d 997 [2012]) and that he consciously disregarded the substantial and unjustifiable risk that stabbing the victim would result in the victim’s death (see People v DiBella, 277 AD2d 699, 700-701 [2000], lv denied 96 NY2d 758 [2001]; see e.g. People v George, 43 AD3d 560, 564 [2007], affd 11 NY3d 848 [2008]). Accordingly, we are not persuaded that the jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence.

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People v. Ramirez, 118 A.D.3d 1108, 987 N.Y.S.2d 496 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2014).

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