People v. Bell

• Decision Date: 15 March 2011
• Citation: 919 N.Y.S.2d 76,82 A.D.3d 997,2011 N.Y. Slip Op. 02023
• Parties: The PEOPLE, etc., respondent,v.Earl BELL, Jr., appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

82 A.D.3d 997

919 N.Y.S.2d 76

2011 N.Y. Slip Op. 02023

The PEOPLE, etc., respondent,

v.Earl BELL, Jr., appellant.

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

March 15, 2011.

Richard N. Lentino, Middletown, N.Y., for appellant.Francis D. Phillips II, District Attorney, Goshen, N.Y. (Andrew R. Kass of counsel), for respondent.MARK C. DILLON, J.P., ANITA R. FLORIO, THOMAS A. DICKERSON, and JEFFREY A. COHEN, JJ.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Orange County (Freehill, J.), rendered July 28, 2008, convicting him of murder in the second degree (depraved indifference murder), murder in the second degree (felony murder), kidnapping in the first degree, and tampering with physical evidence, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant and a codefendant, Monroe B. Bussey, who was tried separately, were indicted for crimes related to their beating of Jeffrey Beary (hereinafter the victim) in an alley leading to the backyard of the defendant's home. During the beating, which lasted up to 20 minutes, the victim sustained multiple blows, abrasions and lacerations to the head, a fractured collarbone, three fractured ribs, and a punctured lung that caused air to enter his chest cavity. The victim was stripped of his clothing and his head was wrapped in a blanket secured with tape. The victim, while moaning, was placed into the trunk of Bussey's car, driven approximately 18 miles from Newburgh to Poughkeepsie, and dumped in a shallow creek. The Medical Examiner testified that the victim vomited inside the blanket and had lived for an hour or two after aspirating his gastric contents.

The defendant's arrest was based on probable cause, as an identified citizen accused the defendant of participating in the instant homicide ( see People v. Mendoza, 49 A.D.3d 559, 560, 853 N.Y.S.2d 364; People v. Griffin, 15 A.D.3d 502, 790 N.Y.S.2d 494; People v. Soto, 279 A.D.2d 592, 719 N.Y.S.2d 603; People v. Martin, 221 A.D.2d 568, 568–569, 634 N.Y.S.2d 147; People v. Pagan, 184 A.D.2d 738, 585 N.Y.S.2d 453). Furthermore, that same citizen identified the defendant's photograph from a computer-generated photo array shown to her by a detective, which provided the police with an additional basis to arrest the defendant ( see People v. Medina, 293 A.D.2d 553, 742 N.Y.S.2d 64; People v. Palacio, 121 A.D.2d 282, 503 N.Y.S.2d 56).

The jury acquitted the defendant of intentional murder ( see Penal Law § 125.25[1] ), but convicted him of, among other things, depraved indifference murder ( see Penal Law § 125.25[2] ). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, as we must ( see People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620, 467 N.Y.S.2d 349, 454 N.E.2d 932), we find that this case falls within the small and finite category of cases where the evidence was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt of the crime of depraved indifference murder. On these facts, there is a valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences by which a rational jury could have determined that the defendant, while not intending to kill, acted with the conscious objective of engaging in “torture or a brutal, prolonged and ultimately fatal course of conduct against a particularly vulnerable victim” ( People v. Suarez, 6 N.Y.3d 202, 212, 811 N.Y.S.2d 267, 844 N.E.2d 721; see People v. Nunez, 51 A.D.3d 1398, 857 N.Y.S.2d 854).

Again viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution ( see People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d at 620, 467 N.Y.S.2d 349, 454 N.E.2d 932), we also find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt of felony murder ( see Penal Law § 125.25[3] ) and kidnapping in the first degree ( see Penal Law § 135.25[3] ) beyond a reasonable doubt. The restraint of the victim, who was alive prior to the kidnapping, but died approximately two hours thereafter, was not “ ‘so much the part of another substantive crime that the substantive crime could not have been committed without such acts and that independent criminal responsibility may not fairly be attributed to them’ ” ( People v. Gonzalez, 80 N.Y.2d 146, 153, 589 N.Y.S.2d 833, 603 N.E.2d 938, quoting People v. Cassidy, 40 N.Y.2d 763, 767, 390 N.Y.S.2d 45, 358 N.E.2d 870). The acts constituting the kidnapping were discrete acts. These acts did not constitute “a minimal intrusion necessary and integral to another crime” ( People v. Gonzalez, 80 N.Y.2d at 153, 589 N.Y.S.2d 833, 603 N.E.2d 938). Thus, the merger doctrine is inapplicable in this case ( see People v. Collazo, 45 A.D.3d 899, 901, 844 N.Y.S.2d 509; People v. Wegman, 2 A.D.3d 1333, 1336, 769 N.Y.S.2d 682; People v. Hinton, 258 A.D.2d 874, 688 N.Y.S.2d 287; People v. Cannon, 236 A.D.2d 294, 295, 654 N.Y.S.2d 346; People v. Chronis, 209 A.D.2d 712, 713, 619 N.Y.S.2d 156).

In fulfilling our responsibility to conduct an independent review of the weight of the evidence ( see CPL 470.15[5]; People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1), we nevertheless accord great deference to the jury's opportunity to view the witnesses, hear the testimony, and observe demeanor ( see People v. Mateo, 2 N.Y.3d 383, 410, 779 N.Y.S.2d 399, 811 N.E.2d 1053, cert. denied 542 U.S. 946, 124 S.Ct. 2929, 159 L.Ed.2d 828; People v. Bleakley, 69 N.Y.2d 490, 495, 515 N.Y.S.2d 761, 508 N.E.2d 672). Upon reviewing the record here, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt of murder in the second degree (depraved indifference murder), murder in the second degree (felony murder), kidnapping in the first degree, and tampering with physical evidence was not against the weight of the evidence ( see People v. Romero, 7 N.Y.3d 633, 826 N.Y.S.2d 163, 859 N.E.2d 902).

The trial court properly granted the People's reverse- Batson challenge ( see Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69; People v. Luciano, 10 N.Y.3d 499, 502–503, 860 N.Y.S.2d 452, 890 N.E.2d 214; People v. Kern, 75 N.Y.2d 638, 555 N.Y.S.2d 647, 554 N.E.2d 1235, cert. denied 498 U.S. 824, 111 S.Ct. 77, 112 L.Ed.2d...