People v. Brown
People v. Brown
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT
Memorandum.
The order of the Appellate Division should be modified by reducing defendant’s conviction for reckless assault in the second degree (Penal Law § 120.05 [4]) to criminally negligent assault in the third degree (Penal Law § 120.00 [3]), and by remitting to the Appellate Division for further proceedings in accordance with this memorandum, and as so modified, affirmed.
On August 12, 2007, defendant’s then 15-year-old nephew, Antoine S., and his younger sister were at defendant’s home, where they often spent the night. On that particular evening, the three of them were inside defendant’s kitchen heating water on the stove top in order to prepare a hot bath for defendant’s husband. At some point, Antoine began to engage in horseplay, splashing defendant and his sister with water from the sink. Defendant, in turn, spattered her nephew with water and, according to Antoine and his sister, noted that she was the “queen of pranks.” Antoine then left the kitchen to watch television in a different room. Shortly thereafter, defendant
Following a nonjury trial, County Court acquitted defendant of intentional assault in the first degree (Penal Law § 120.10 [1]), but convicted her of second-degree reckless assault and endangering the welfare of a child (Penal Law § 260.10 [1]). On appeal, defendant argues that the evidence was legally insufficient to support her conviction for reckless assault. Defendant also maintains that the Appellate Division failed to conduct a weight of the evidence review pursuant to CPL 470.15 (5).
‘ ‘A verdict is legally sufficient when, viewing the facts in a light most favorable to the People, there is a valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences from which a rational jury could have found the elements of the crime proved beyond a reasonable doubt” (People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 349 [2007] [internal quotation marks omitted]). Applying this standard, we conclude that the People failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant acted recklessly. Penal Law § 15.05 (3) provides that
“[a] person acts recklessly with respect to a result . . . when [s]he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur . . . The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.”
While there is record support for a finding that defendant here acted with criminal negligence when she lifted the pot of water from the stove and poured it over Antoine, the evidence does not support County Court’s conclusion that defendant was “aware of’ and “consciously disregarded]” a known risk that her behavior would cause Antoine’s skin to burn.
We have considered defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim and conclude, so far as the record before us permits review, that “viewed in totality and as of the time of the representation, [counsel] provided meaningful representation” (People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 712 [1998]). To the extent that defendant raises arguments concerning counsel’s representation that are outside the record, the proper vehicle for such arguments is a CPL 440.10 motion.
Chief Judge Lippman and Judges Ciparick, Graffeo, Read, Smith, Pigott and Jones concur in memorandum.
Order modified, etc.
CPL 470.15 (5) provides that “[t]he kinds of determinations of reversal or modification deemed to be on the facts include, but are not limited to, a determination that a verdict of conviction resulting in a judgment was, in whole or in part, against the weight of the evidence.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The People of the State of New York v. Nadirah Brown
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published