People v. Luke
Opinion of the Court
Judgments, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Megan Tallmer,
The court properly admitted the testifying victim’s statement to a social worker as an excited utterance (see People v Johnson, 1 NY3d 302 [2003]). The evidence established that the distraught victim, described by a witness as hysterical, was still under the stress of the brutal beating that defendant had inflicted a short time before.
The court properly refused to submit assault in the third degree as a lesser included offense of assault in the second degree. Given the nature of the victim’s injuries, as well as fact that her testimony constituted an integrated whole (see People v Negron, 91 NY2d 788 [1998]), there was no reasonable view of the evidence that defendant assaulted the victim with just his hands rather than with a dangerous instrument. Concur—Tom, J.P., Andrias, Williams, Marlow and Gonzalez, JJ.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.