Opinion
16667 2123/12
01-19-2016
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Yekatrina PUSEPA, Defendant–Appellant.
Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Robert S. Dean of counsel), and Kaye Scholer LLP, New York (Candice A. Andalia of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (John T. Hughes of counsel), for respondent.
Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Robert S. Dean of counsel), and Kaye Scholer LLP, New York (Candice A. Andalia of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (John T. Hughes of counsel), for respondent.
Opinion
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Marcy L. Kahn, J.), rendered January 9, 2014, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the first degree, and sentencing her to concurrent terms of 8 ½ years, unanimously affirmed.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 2007 ). There is no basis for disturbing the jury's credibility determinations. The evidence, including both defendant's act and the surrounding circumstances, supports a reasonable inference that defendant acted with homicidal intent when she stabbed the victim in the heart (see generally People v. Getch, 50 N.Y.2d 456, 465, 429 N.Y.S.2d 579, 407 N.E.2d 425 1980 ). The evidence also refuted defendant's justification defense.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.
MAZZARELLI, J.P., ACOSTA, ANDRIAS, MOSKOWITZ, JJ., concur.