People v. Sutton

174 A.D.3d 1052

103 N.Y.S.3d 698

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Marquise L. SUTTON, Appellant.

108638

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: June 5, 2019

Decided and Entered: July 11, 2019

Bruce Evans Knoll, Albany, for appellant.

Weeden A. Wetmore, District Attorney, Elmira (Jordan J. Yorke of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Lynch, J.P., Clark, Mulvey, Aarons and Rumsey, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Clark, J. In December 2015, based upon allegations that he shot the victim in the abdomen, thereby causing the victim's death, defendant was charged by indictment with manslaughter in the first degree. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted as charged and sentenced to 25 years in prison, followed by five years of postrelease supervision. Defendant appeals, and we affirm.

Defendant contends that the verdict was not supported by legally sufficient evidence and was against the weight of the evidence because the People failed to prove that he was the shooter or that he had the requisite intent for a conviction of manslaughter in the first degree. Initially, defendant's legal sufficiency argument is unpreserved for our review because he did not renew his challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence at the close of his proof (see People v. Kolupa, 13 N.Y.3d 786, 787, 887 N.Y.S.2d 536, 916 N.E.2d 430 [2009] ; People v. Lane, 7 N.Y.3d 888, 889, 826 N.Y.S.2d 599, 860 N.E.2d 61 [2006] ). Nevertheless, in the course of reviewing defendant's weight of the evidence argument, we necessarily determine whether the elements of manslaughter in the first degree were proven beyond a reasonable doubt (see People v. Vega, 170 A.D.3d 1266, 1267, 95 N.Y.S.3d 620 [2019] ; People v. Martinez, 166 A.D.3d 1292, 1293, 88 N.Y.S.3d 665 [2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 1207, 99 N.Y.S.3d 208, 122 N.E.3d 1121 [2019] ). As relevant here, a conviction for manslaughter in the first degree requires proof that, "[w]ith intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, [a defendant] cause[d] the death of such person or of a third person" ( Penal Law § 125.20[1] ). A "defendant's intent may be inferred from his [or her] actions and the surrounding circumstances" ( People v. Molina, 79 A.D.3d 1371, 1376, 914 N.Y.S.2d 331 [2010], lv denied 16 N.Y.3d 861, 923 N.Y.S.2d 423, 947 N.E.2d 1202 [2011] ; see People v. Rivers, 152 A.D.3d 1054, 1056, 59 N.Y.S.3d 565 [2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 1063, 71 N.Y.S.3d 13, 94 N.E.3d 495 [2017] ).

The undisputed evidence, including text messages sent and received by defendant, established that defendant accompanied Alicia Haskins to the victim's home when she went to pick up her children from their parenting time with the victim. The testimony revealed that custody exchanges between Haskins and the victim had been contentious in the past and that, to help facilitate an amicable exchange, the victim's cousin was also present for the exchange. By all accounts, a verbal argument ensued between Haskins and the victim, as well as the victim's father and the father's girlfriend, and the argument escalated into a physical altercation outside of the victim's home. The victim's cousin testified that, as she was putting the children in the car, she saw the victim's father holding Haskins down on the ground while the father's girlfriend stomped on Haskins. The victim's cousin testified that she thereafter heard a car door slam, followed by a gunshot. Several eyewitnesses testified to looking in the direction of the gunshot and seeing defendant standing outside of Haskin's car. The victim's father specifically testified that he saw defendant standing with his arm outstretched in front of him, holding a gun.

The evidence also demonstrated that defendant left the scene on foot after the shooting and that he thereafter sent several text messages indicating that he was in trouble and needed to disappear. As further established by the evidence, Haskins placed a recorded telephone call to defendant, during which he acknowledged his presence at the scene and made several other potentially inculpatory comments. Furthermore, Haskins testified that, prior to arriving at the victim's home, she drove defendant to a house to pick up his "joint," which she understood to mean a gun. Although the firearm was never recovered, a shell casing and projectile belonging to a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson pistol were found at the scene, and the medical evidence established that the victim died of massive blood loss resulting from a gunshot wound. In our view, given all of the evidence, including defense testimony that there was another unidentified man present at the scene, it would not have been unreasonable for the jury to have acquitted defendant of manslaughter in the first degree. However, the jury clearly credited the People's evidence, determined that defendant was the shooter and found that, by shooting at the group engaged in the physical altercation, defendant acted with the requisite intent (see People v. Forde, 120 A.D.3d 509, 509, 990 N.Y.S.2d 637 [2014], lv denied 24 N.Y.3d 1043, 998 N.Y.S.2d 313, 23 N.E.3d 156 [2014] ; People v. Hernandez, 233 A.D.2d 273, 274, 650 N.Y.S.2d 539 [1996], lv denied 89 N.Y.2d 986, 656 N.Y.S.2d 744, 678 N.E.2d 1360 [1997] ). Viewing the evidence in a neutral light and according deference to the jury's credibility determinations (see People v. Babcock, 152 A.D.3d 962, 967, 59 N.Y.S.3d 527 [2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 947, 67 N.Y.S.3d 130, 89 N.E.3d 520 [2017] ), we find that the weight of the evidence amply supports the jury's guilty verdict (see People v. Garland, 155 A.D.3d 527, 528–529, 65 N.Y.S.3d 167 [2017], affd 32 N.Y.3d 1094, 90 N.Y.S.3d 618, 114 N.E.3d 1071 [2018] ; People v. Forde, 120 A.D.3d at 509, 990 N.Y.S.2d 637 ; People v. Hernandez, 233 A.D.2d at 274, 650 N.Y.S.2d 539 ).

Defendant also argues that the integrity of the grand jury proceeding was impaired by the manner in which the prosecutor presented the case, by allegedly incomplete and/or inadequate instructions and by certain prejudicial witness testimony. Initially...