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People v. Funchess

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 18, 2001
284 A.D.2d 478 (N.Y. App. Div. 2001)

Opinion

Submitted May 17, 2001.

June 18, 2001.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Westchester County (Zambelli, J.), rendered January 5, 1999, convicting him of assault in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Richard L. Herzfeld, New York, N.Y., for appellant.

Jeanine Pirro, District Attorney, White Plains, N.Y. (Valerie A. Livingston and Richard Longworth Hecht of counsel), for respondent.

Before: CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, J.P., ANITA R. FLORIO, SANDRA J. FEUERSTEIN, NANCY E. SMITH, JJ.


ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

Contrary to the defendant's contention, the County Court did not err in denying his request to charge the jury on reckless assault in the third degree as a lesser-included offense of intentional assault in the second degree. To be entitled to a charge on a lesser-included offense, a defendant must demonstrate that the additional offense is a lesser-included offense of the crime charged, and that a "reasonable view of the evidence" supports a finding that he committed the lesser offense but not the greater one (see, People v. Glover, 57 N.Y.2d 61, 63; People v. Henderson, 41 N.Y.2d 233, 235).

The evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant established that he intentionally, not recklessly, cut the victim in the face with a box cutter. Thus, there was no reasonable view of the evidence to support charging the jury on the crime of reckless assault in the third degree as a lesser-included offense (see, People v. Hill, 255 A.D.2d 969; People v. Ellis, 230 A.D.2d 751).

The County Court providently exercised its discretion in denying the defendant access to police reports that he had requested pursuant to a subpoena, as the reports concerned unrelated harassment charges filed by the victim's former girlfriend against the victim several months after the incident involved in this case. The subpoena process is not to be used to circumvent the discovery rules set forth in CPL article 240 (see, Matter of Terry D., 81 N.Y.2d 1042; Matter of Pirro v. LaCava, 230 A.D.2d 909). In any event, as the incidents of harassment occurred after the defendant's crime, they were irrelevant to the defendant's state of mind during the crime (see, People v. Miller, 39 N.Y.2d 543; People v. Aska, 91 N.Y.2d 979).

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

The defendant's remaining contentions are either unpreserved for appellate review or without merit.

O'BRIEN, J.P., FLORIO, FEUERSTEIN and SMITH, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Funchess

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jun 18, 2001
284 A.D.2d 478 (N.Y. App. Div. 2001)
Case details for

People v. Funchess

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., respondent, v. ROBERT FUNCHESS, appellant

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

Date published: Jun 18, 2001

Citations

284 A.D.2d 478 (N.Y. App. Div. 2001)
728 N.Y.S.2d 175

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