Opinion
5115Ind. 3158/143462/14
12-05-2017
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Davon BLACK, Defendant–Appellant.
Cardozo Appeals Clinic, New York (Stanley Neustadter of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Jeffrey A. Wojcik of counsel), for respondent.
Cardozo Appeals Clinic, New York (Stanley Neustadter of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Jeffrey A. Wojcik of counsel), for respondent.
Gische, J.P., Kapnick, Oing, Moulton, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael J. Obus, J.), rendered April 14, 2015, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of burglary in the first degree and robbery in the second and third degrees, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of eight years, unanimously affirmed.
There was legally sufficient evidence to support the element of physical injury (see e.g. People v. Medina, 139 A.D.3d 460, 460, 31 N.Y.S.3d 58 [1st Dept. 2016], lv denied 28 N.Y.3d 933, 40 N.Y.S.3d 361, 63 N.E.3d 81 [2016] ). In a struggle over the victim's phone, defendant slammed her against a wall and hurled her down a flight of stairs, causing bruises on her legs and face that were visible in photographs taken four days later. The victim also felt pain for several days while chewing her food. The statutory element of "substantial pain" may be satisfied by relatively minor injuries causing moderate, but "more than slight or trivial pain" (see People v. Chiddick, 8 N.Y.3d 445, 447, 834 N.Y.S.2d 710, 866 N.E.2d 1039 [2007] ), even in the absence of any medical treatment (see People v. Guidice, 83 N.Y.2d 630, 636, 612 N.Y.S.2d 350, 634 N.E.2d 951 [1994] ).