| People v Greene |
| 2018 NY Slip Op 03938 [162 AD3d 415] |
| June 5, 2018 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Demari Greene, Appellant. |
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Svetlana M. Kornfeind ofcounsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (R. Jeannie Campbell-Urban of counsel),respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Edward J. McLaughlin, J.), renderedSeptember 17, 2013, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the third degree andaggravated criminal contempt, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of two to six years,unanimously affirmed.
The court properly permitted the People to introduce evidence of uncharged physicalconfrontations between defendant and the victim before the incident at issue. This conduct wasrelevant to defendant's motive and intent (see People v Dorm, 12 NY3d 16 [2009]), and it provided necessarybackground regarding the couple's relationship that tended to explain aspects of the victim'stestimony that might otherwise have seemed less than believable to the jury (see People vSteinberg, 170 AD2d 50, 72-74 [1991], affd 79 NY2d 673 [1992]). The probativevalue of this evidence outweighed its prejudicial effect, which the court minimized by means ofthorough limiting instructions. Concur—Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Gische, Mazzarelli,Gesmer, JJ.