Opinion
No. 2023-50191 570847/15
03-15-2023
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Anthony Phillips, Defendant-Appellant.
Unpublished Opinion
MOTION DECISION
PRESENT: TISCH, J.P., MICHAEL, JAMES, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
In consolidated appeals, defendant appeals from two judgments of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Raja Rajeswari, J.), rendered July 7, 2015, convicting him, upon his pleas of guilty, of criminal contempt in the second degree and assault in the third degree, and imposing sentence.
Judgments of conviction (Raja Rajeswari, J.), rendered July 7, 2015, affirmed.
Since defendant waived prosecution by information, the accusatory instrument is assessed under the reasonable cause standard applicable to a misdemeanor complaint (see People v Dumay, 23 N.Y.3d 518, 522 [2014]). So viewed, the instrument under docket number 2015NY029507 was jurisdictionally valid because it described facts of an evidentiary nature establishing reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of criminal contempt in the second degree (see Penal Law § 215.50[3]). The instrument alleges that defendant, while housed in the Manhattan Detention Center, telephoned Gianma Brito-Baez three times in late April 2015, including once at 2:04 p.m. on April 24, 2015, and that he thereby intentionally disobeyed a valid order of protection that directed him to refrain from communicating with or contacting Brito-Baez by telephone. The instrument further alleges that defendant was present in court at the April 9, 2015 issuance of the order of protection and signed it. These allegations gave defendant sufficient notice to prepare a defense and had detail adequate to prevent him from being tried twice for the same offense (see People v Kaplan, 125 A.D.3d 465 [2015], lv denied 25 N.Y.3d 1203 [2015]; People v Ellison, 106 A.D.3d 419 [2013], lv denied 21 N.Y.3d 1004 [2013]).
Since the accusatory instrument was jurisdictionally valid with respect to the contempt charge to which defendant pleaded guilty, i.e. that related to the 2:04 p.m., April 24, 2015 telephone call, defendant is not aggrieved by any alleged defects in the other charged offenses (see People v Ruiz, 146 A.D.3d 417 [2017], lv denied 28 N.Y.3d 1188 [2017]).
In view of our affirmance, defendant's contention that his third-degree assault conviction under docket number 2015NY021594 should be vacated pursuant to People v Fuggazzatto, 62 N.Y.2d 862, 863 (1984), is academic.