Opinion
No. 570182/16
10-14-2022
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Ahmed Jalloh, Defendant-Appellant.
Unpublished Opinion
PRESENT: Hagler, J.P., Tisch, Michael, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Diana M. Boyar, J. at plea; Heidi C. Cesare, J. at re-plea and sentencing), rendered March 14, 2016, convicting him, upon a plea of guilty, of disorderly conduct, and imposing sentence.
Judgment of conviction (Diana M. Boyar, J. at plea; Heidi C. Cesare, J. at re-plea and sentencing), rendered March 14, 2016, affirmed.
In view of defendant's knowing waiver of the right to prosecution by information, the accusatory instrument only had to satisfy the reasonable cause requirement of a misdemeanor complaint (see People v Dumay, 23 N.Y.3d 518, 522 [2014]). So viewed, the accusatory instrument was jurisdictionally valid because it described facts of an evidentiary nature establishing reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of third-degree assault (see Penal Law § 120.00). The "physical injury" element of the offense was satisfied by allegations that defendant struck the complainant "about the face with a closed fist," causing "swelling, bruising, redness and substantial pain." Based on these allegations, a reasonable person could infer that the victim felt "substantial pain" (Penal Law § 10.00[9]; see People v Henderson, 92 N.Y.2d 677, 680 [1999]; People v Mercado, 94 A.D.3d 502 [2012], lv denied 19 N.Y.3d 999 [2012]), a term which simply means "more than slight or trivial pain" (People v Chiddick, 8 N.Y.3d 445, 447 [2007]). Defendant's intent to cause physical injury was readily inferable from his actions (see Matter of Edward H., 61 A.D.3d 473, 473 [2009]).