Opinion
9227 Ind. 5388/15
05-07-2019
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Victor PERALTA, Defendant–Appellant.
Justine M. Luongo, The Legal Aid Society, New York (David Crow of counsel), and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, New York (Randall T. Adams of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sheila O'Shea of counsel), for respondent.
Justine M. Luongo, The Legal Aid Society, New York (David Crow of counsel), and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, New York (Randall T. Adams of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sheila O'Shea of counsel), for respondent.
Renwick, J.P., Richter, Tom, Kapnick, Kern, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Gilbert C. Hong, J.), rendered September 13, 2016, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 6 months, with 5 years' probation, unanimously reversed, on the law, and the matter remanded for a new trial.
As the People concede, defendant is entitled to a new trial because the court provided written instructions to the jury, at its request, but over defendant's objection (see People v. Johnson , 81 N.Y.2d 980, 599 N.Y.S.2d 525, 615 N.E.2d 1009 [1993] ).
Because we are ordering a new trial, we decline to reach any other issues, except that we find that the verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. The jury could have reasonably found that the hot liquid thrown by defendant qualified as a dangerous instrument (see Penal Law §§ 10.00[10],[13] ; see also People v. Adolph , 299 A.D.2d 257, 257, 750 N.Y.S.2d 593 [1st Dept. 2002], lv denied 99 N.Y.2d 579, 755 N.Y.S.2d 715, 785 N.E.2d 737 [2003] ).