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People v. Cruz

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Dec 13, 1999
267 A.D.2d 319 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)

Opinion

Submitted November 15, 1999

December 13, 1999

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Ruchelsman, J.), rendered October 6, 1997, convicting him of assault in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

M. Sue Wycoff, New York, N.Y. (Allen Fallek of counsel), for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Roseann B. MacKechnie and Caroline R. Donhauser of counsel), for respondent.

CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, J.P., DAVID S. RITTER, FRED T. SANTUCCI, ANITA R. FLORIO, JJ.


DECISION ORDER

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's claim that the evidence was legally insufficient to establish that he intended to cause serious physical injury is unpreserved for appellate review (see, CPL 470.05[2]). In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see, People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620 ), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant initially punched the victim, causing him to fall to the ground. Thereafter, the victim got up and went to a nearby fire alarm box to try to summon help. When the victim returned, the defendant repeatedly punched him in the face, despite the fact that the victim was bleeding from the ears, nose, and mouth. The victim finally fell to the floor, suffered a fractured skull, a frontal contusion, contusions on both sides of the brain and bleeding inside the brain. Under the circumstances, a jury could have reasonably concluded that the defendant intended to cause serious physical injury (see, People v. Martinez, 224 A.D.2d 254, 255 ; People v. Crawford, 200 A.D.2d 683, 684 ; People v. Delgado, 167 A.D.2d 181, 182 ; People v. Figueroa, 143 A.D.2d 767 ).

The defendant also failed to preserve for appellate review his contentions that the prosecutor's impeachment of the codefendant's witness, and the court's related jury instructions, violated the rule of People v. Dawson ( 50 N.Y.2d 311 ; see, People v. Douglas, 248 A.D.2d 550 ). In any event, these claims are without merit.

The sentence was not excessive (see, People v. Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80 ).

O'BRIEN, J.P., RITTER, SANTUCCI, and FLORIO, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Cruz

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Dec 13, 1999
267 A.D.2d 319 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)
Case details for

People v. Cruz

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., respondent, v. EDWARD CRUZ, appellant. (Ind. No. 8213/96)

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Dec 13, 1999

Citations

267 A.D.2d 319 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)
699 N.Y.S.2d 889

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