| People v Bekka |
| 2018 NY Slip Op 02021 [159 AD3d 578] |
| March 22, 2018 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Steven Bekka, Appellant. |
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Allison N. Kahl of counsel), forappellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Aaron Zucker of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (James M. Burke, J.), rendered November 9,2016, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the second degree and obstructinggovernmental administration in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second felonyoffender, to an aggregate term of six years, unanimously modified, as a matter of discretion in theinterest of justice, to reduce the assault sentence to 4 years, and otherwise affirmed.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of theevidence (see People v Danielson, 9NY3d 342, 348-349 [2007]). There was ample evidence that defendant caused physicalinjury to a court officer. The officer's testimony supported the conclusion that he sustainedsubstantial pain and impairment of physical condition that persisted for two weeks (see People v Chiddick, 8 NY3d445, 447 [2007]; People v Guidice, 83 NY2d 630, 636 [1994]). To the extent thatdefendant challenges the credibility of the officer's description of his injuries, we find no basisfor disturbing the jury's credibility determination.
Defendant did not preserve his challenges to the court's charge on physical injury, and to itsresponse to a jury note on the same subject, and we decline to review them in the interest ofjustice. As an alternative holding, we find that the court sufficiently conveyed the applicablestandards, and that its rereading of the initial charge was a meaningful response to the note. Wehave considered and rejected defendant's argument that his trial counsel rendered ineffectiveassistance by approving of the two instructions at issue.
We find the sentence excessive to the extent indicated. Concur—Renwick, J.P.,Manzanet-Daniels, Kern, Singh, JJ.