People v. Wright

206 A.D.2d 750, 614 N.Y.S.2d 818, 1994 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8013
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided July 28, 1994·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

—Mikoll, J. P.

Appeals (1) from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Cheeseman, J.), rendered September 4, 1991 in Albany County, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of assault in the second degree, and (2) by permission, from an order of the County Court of Albany County (Breslin, J.), entered April 9, 1993, which denied defendant’s motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate the judgment of conviction, without a hearing.

Defendant met Fred Washington at the Bottom’s Up Bar in the City of Albany on the night of February 21, 1990. The Bottom’s Up was located across the street from defendant’s apartment. Defendant reportedly had three beers and two shots of blackberry brandy after leaving work that day at another bar. She arrived home at 7:00 p.m. and then went out again about 10:30 p.m., this time to the Bottom’s Up. Shortly after she arrived at the Bottom’s Up, she became involved in a conversation with Washington, who had taken a seat on a bar stool near her. She had only been in the Bottom’s Up on one prior occasion and she did not know Washington. After about 2Vi to 3 hours of talking and drinking, they left the bar and went to defendant’s apartment across the street.

It is at this point that their stories diverge. Defendant testified that, just before the two left the Bottom’s Up, she was unable to find her jacket which she had hung over her bar stool. Defendant said that Washington told her that his friend might have taken it, but that he did not want to call from the noisy bar. They therefore went to her apartment solely to permit Washington to make a telephone call to his friend about defendant’s jacket. She denied any physical contact between the two in the bar. Defendant testified that at her apartment, she showed Washington the telephone and then [751]*751went to her bedroom to hide her purse. Washington next appeared naked in the doorway to her bedroom. Fearing that he would rape her, she grabbed a knife she had on her dresser and, as Washington kept coming toward her, she struck at him with the knife cutting him in the penis. Defendant yelled for help, they struggled and Washington went out of the bedroom only to yell at her and throw objects at her bedroom door, which she held closed. Defendant testified that Washington eventually left the apartment and she called the police who came and investigated.

Washington’s version of the events was that defendant had grabbed him and kissed him during the evening and they left together holding hands. He did not remember anything about a telephone call to locate defendant’s jacket. Washington testified that upon arrival at her apartment, defendant brought him to the bedroom, told him to make himself comfortable and went somewhere. Washington then undressed and sat on the bed. Defendant then returned carrying something in her right hand. She began making slashing motions at him. He stood up and defendant continued after him. Washington grabbed his clothes and ran out of the bedroom, got dressed, banged on the bedroom door, screamed at defendant and threw a flower pot at the door. He eventually left with a radio and flagged a passing motorist. Although Washington had realized he had been cut in the stomach, it was not until the motorist, Peter Carr, called his attention to blood coming through his pants that he knew his penis had been cut. Although Washington wanted to be taken to his mother’s house, Carr insisted on taking him to the hospital.

Police officers were dispatched to defendant’s apartment at about 2:00 a.m. on February 22, 1990. Defendant told Officer Douglas Walczak that someone had tried to rape her so she cut him in the penis with a knife. Walczak observed defendant with the knife in her hand when he entered her apartment and also observed a hunting knife on her dresser. Detective Sean Keane saw defendant at the police station and Washington at the hospital. Keane testified that both defendant and Washington were intoxicated. Keane also testified that, prior to defendant’s call to the police station, her downstairs neighbor had called the police to report a disturbance on the second floor. Keane prepared a report at 7:45 a.m. on February 22, 1990. Thereafter, on March 7, 1990 defendant was placed under arrest. Keane obtained statements from defendant and Washington a week after the incident.

On May 22, 1990, defendant was indicted and charged with [752]*752three counts of assault in the first degree. At the trial defendant claimed that she acted in self-defense; the jury ultimately convicted her of one count of assault in the second degree. Defendant was sentenced to five years’ probation. Defendant’s subsequent motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate the judgment of conviction on the ground of newly discovered evidence was denied. Defendant now appeals from the judgment of conviction and, by permission, from the denial of her CPL 440.10 motion.

Defendant’s contention that the judgment must be reversed because the verdict of guilty was against the weight of the evidence is without merit. Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the People (see, People v Contes, 60 NY2d 620, 621), we find that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury verdict and it was not against the weight of the evidence (see, People v Duffy, 185 AD2d 528, 528-529, lv denied 80 NY2d 903). Questions of credibility were for the jury to resolve (see, People v Stumbrice, 194 AD2d 931, 934, lv denied 82 NY2d 727). It was the jury’s prerogative to credit the version of the incident advanced by Washington and supported by his expert, Jack Davies, and reject that of defendant and her expert, Thomas Oram. There were no witnesses to the actual incident except the two participants. The fact that Washington’s testimony was inconsistent and contradictory in some respects does not render his entire testimony unworthy of belief. The jury could accept some portions and reject other parts of his testimony and this Court must be careful not to substitute its judgment for that of the fact-finder. An intermediate appellate court should defer to the fact-finder’s superior position to view the various witnesses, observe their demeanor and weigh their respective testimony (see, People v Garcia, 149 AD2d 241, 247, affd 75 NY2d 973).

We also find unpersuasive defendant’s argument that the prosecution’s failure to turn over a statement by Carr, who could not be located for the trial, constituted a violation of defendant’s right to exculpatory material in the prosecution’s possession prior to trial. Defendant contends that Carr’s statement contradicted certain statements made by Washington and therefore its production was crucial to her defense. The theory of defendant’s case was self-defense. As Carr was not present at the time the incident occurred, his testimony could therefore only be used to impeach Washington’s testimony, that is, to attack his credibility. Although the statement was not turned over until the day before jury selection, defendant could and did use it to impeach Washington’s testimony (see, [753]*753People v Cortijo, 70 NY2d 868, 870; People v Duffy, 185 AD2d 528, 539, supra; People v Steele, 168 AD2d 937, lv denied 77 NY2d 967; People v Fernandez, 135 AD2d 867, 869, lv denied 71 NY2d 895). We therefore find no Brady v Maryland (373 US 83) violation here.

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People v. Wright, 206 A.D.2d 750, 614 N.Y.S.2d 818, 1994 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8013 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1994).

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