Summary
firing at stopped vehicle and striking nearby pedestrian was sufficient evidence to support conviction for depraved indifference murder
Summary of this case from Monserrate v. GreinerOpinion
March 10, 1989
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Erie County, Flynn, J.
Present — Callahan, J.P., Doerr, Boomer, Lawton and Davis, JJ.
Judgment unanimously affirmed. Memorandum: Viewing the evidence, as we must, in the light most favorable to the People and granting it all reasonable inferences (see, People v. Ford, 66 N.Y.2d 428, 437), we conclude that the evidence was legally sufficient to sustain defendant's conviction of depraved indifference murder (Penal Law § 125.25). The evidence establishes that defendant intentionally fired a weapon at a vehicle that was stopped at a stoplight. A number of other vehicles were also stopped at the light behind the target vehicle and pedestrians were standing at the intersections. Defendant's shot missed the vehicle and struck and killed a six-year-old girl who was walking down the street. The objective circumstances surrounding defendant's conduct are sufficient to provide a valid line of reasoning, along with reasonable inferences, for a rational trier of fact to conclude that defendant's conduct "displayed the requisite wanton indifference to a very substantial risk to human life" (People v. McManus, 67 N.Y.2d 541, 545; see also, People v. Gomez, 65 N.Y.2d 9, 10-11; People v Register, 60 N.Y.2d 270, 277).
We have reviewed defendant's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit.