People v. Copeland
| Decision Date | 08 June 1995 |
| Citation | 216 A.D.2d 55,627 N.Y.S.2d 653 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. John COPELAND, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
A.H. Saperstein, for respondent.
L. Rossi-Ortiz, for defendant-appellant.
Before ELLERIN, J.P., and ASCH, NARDELLI and WILLIAMS, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
Judgment of the Supreme Court, Bronx County (William H. Wallace, III, J.), entered November 12, 1992, convicting defendant, after trial by jury, of assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of from three and one-fourth years to six and one-half years for the assault conviction, and a concurrent term of one year for the weapon possession conviction, is unanimously reversed, on the law and facts, and as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and the matter remanded for a new trial.
The People presented testimony that 17 year-old Shawn Glenn was the "disc jockey" at a party in the Mott Haven Projects in the Bronx. Levinia Spencer witnessed a group of Hispanic young men beat up a "short fat" Hispanic youth and leave him lying on the floor bleeding from the head, face and nose. Shawn Glenn, who had been performing in an apartment on that floor, attended to the victim with some ice until he regained consciousness. Glenn was told his younger brother was in a fight downstairs. When he exited the building, he saw his brother across the street arguing with three men, defendant, Reginald Speller, and another man. Glenn pointed at the men and asked Speller why "all these guys" were hassling his brother. Defendant emerged from behind Speller and struck Glenn with a beer bottle over the left side of his head and then stabbed him with the broken bottle. Glenn fled from the scene bleeding profusely and the crowd pounced on defendant and beat him up. Both Glenn and defendant went to Lincoln Hospital for treatment of wounds received and defendant was arrested upon an identification by Glenn.
In both the Grand Jury and at the trial, defendant gave his version of what had taken place. He explained that the only reason he swung a bottle that night was to protect himself as he was attacked by a gang. He testified that he went to the party and saw gang members attack a young Hispanic man in the kitchen and then drag him into the hallway where they continued to beat him. Glenn was a member of the gang and did nothing to help the victim. At defendant's suggestion, he and his friend Speller left the party. As they walked out, one of the gang members "shouldered" or bumped into him. He was threatened and someone threw a bottle at him striking the bridge of his nose. Then defendant stated that he was attacked from all sides by about 15 to 20 persons. They sprayed mace into his face, stabbed and sliced him in the back of his head, on his legs, neck and across his knees. They hit him with bats and bottles. The mob chased the defendant and as he tried to flee someone tripped him. After he fell to the ground, he grabbed a bottle on the ground and swung it once. He did not know if he had hit anyone with the bottle but only recalled that it fell out of his hands when he swung it. Defendant testified that Shawn Glenn was one of the teenagers who had chased and attacked him. On cross-examination, he admitted that because he did not know what happened when he swung the bottle to ward off his attackers, the bottle may have hit Glenn.
On her closing argument, defendant's counsel said in pertinent part: . The court admonished counsel for her choice of words, calling the use of the phrase "self-defense", inter alia, . Counsel thereafter altered her argument.
Defendant never requested a justification instruction during the charging...
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