People v Grant
2013 NY Slip Op 03032 [105 AD3d 676]
April 30, 2013
Appellate Division, First Department
As corrected through Wednesday, May 29, 2013


The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Jerkeida Grant, Appellant.

[*1]Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (William B. Carney ofcounsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Alan Gadlin of counsel), forrespondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael R. Sonberg, J.), renderedJuly 22, 2010, as amended July 29, 2010, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, ofassault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, andsentencing her to an aggregate term of six months, concurrent with five years' probation,unanimously affirmed.

The court's limited justification charge was appropriate under the circumstances ofthe case when the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to defendant (seePeople v Watts, 57 NY2d 299, 301-302 [1982]).

There was no reasonable view that defendant subjectively believed that the use ofdeadly physical force against her was imminent, or that such a belief would have beenobjectively reasonable (see People v Goetz, 68 NY2d 96 [1986]). Accordingly,the court properly declined to charge the jury on the justifiable use of deadly physicalforce.

Under the particular facts, there was no reasonable view that defendant committedsecond degree assault under a theory of use of a dangerous instrument, as defined inPenal Law § 10.00 (13), but nevertheless did not use deadly physical force asdefined in Penal Law § 10.00 (11) (see People v Mickens, 219 AD2d 543[1995], lv denied 87 NY2d 904 [1995]). Accordingly, the court properly chargedthe jury on the justifiable use of nondeadly force, but limited that charge to the lesserincluded offense of third degree assault, which did not require use of a dangerousinstrument. Concur—Acosta, J.P., Moskowitz, Renwick, Freedman and Clark, JJ.


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