People v. Luckette

• Decision Date: 05 March 2015
• Docket Number: 105583
• Citation: 2015 N.Y. Slip Op. 01834,126 A.D.3d 1044,4 N.Y.S.3d 720
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Michael LUCKETTE, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

126 A.D.3d 1044
4 N.Y.S.3d 720
2015 N.Y. Slip Op. 01834

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent
v.
Michael LUCKETTE, Appellant.

105583

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

March 5, 2015.

4 N.Y.S.3d 721

Richard E. Cantwell, Plattsburgh, for appellant.

Kathleen B. Hogan, District Attorney, Lake George (Emilee B. Davenport of counsel), for respondent.

Before: LAHTINEN, J.P., EGAN Jr., LYNCH and DEVINE, JJ.

Opinion

LYNCH, J.

126 A.D.3d 1044

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Franklin County (Rogers, J.), rendered December 11, 2012, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of rape in the first degree.

126 A.D.3d 1045

In June 2011, when the victim was 17 years old, she and a friend went to defendant's apartment in the Village of Malone, Franklin County, where they drank beer with defendant and snorted adderall. After some time, the friend left the apartment and the victim and defendant were alone. When the friend returned later that evening, the victim told her that defendant had “forced himself on her.” The victim went to the police and, thereafter, defendant was indicted on the charge of rape in the first degree. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted as charged and sentenced to an eight-year prison term to be followed by a 10–year period of postrelease supervision. Defendant now appeals and we affirm.

Defendant contends that the conviction was not supported by legally sufficient evidence. While we find that defendant's legal sufficiency argument was not preserved by his general motion to dismiss at trial (see People v. Finger, 95 N.Y.2d 894, 895, 716 N.Y.S.2d 34, 739 N.E.2d 290 [2000] ; People v. Tompkins, 107 A.D.3d 1037, 1038, 966 N.Y.S.2d 605 [2013], lv. denied 22 N.Y.3d 1044, 981 N.Y.S.2d 377, 4 N.E.3d 389 [2013] ), defendant also contends that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. As to this latter challenge, for which there is no preservation requirement, we necessarily consider and review the evidence presented as to each element of the crime charged (see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ; People v. Tompkins, 107 A.D.3d at 1038, 966 N.Y.S.2d 605 ).

4 N.Y.S.3d 722

As relevant to this appeal, a defendant is guilty of rape in the first degree when he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person by forcible compulsion (see Penal Law § 130.35[1] ) and “ ‘forcible compulsion’ means to compel by ... use of physical force” (Penal Law § 130.00[8][a] ). At trial, the victim testified that once she was alone with defendant, her body felt “heavy” from the drugs and alcohol. She recalled that defendant grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a bedroom and that, as she continued to tell him she “didn't want it,” defendant pushed her onto the bed, got on top of her, and proceeded to engage in certain sexual contact, including vaginal intercourse. According to the victim, she continued to protest during the entire event and tried to push him off her and to get away, but defendant was holding her hands above her head. The police officer who took a statement from defendant testified that defendant admitted that the victim had told him to stop, but that he believed that she did not mean it. Similarly, during his testimony at trial, defendant testified that he did have vaginal intercourse with the victim, but that the event was consensual. He conceded, however, that he had testified before the grand jury that the victim told him “no.”

In our view, while a different result would not have been unreasonable

126 A.D.3d 1046

(see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d at 348, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 ), the evidence at trial was sufficient to establish the forcible compulsion element of rape in the first degree (see Penal Law §§ 130.35[1] ; 130.00[8] ). Notably, “forcible compulsion is not synonymous with violence” (People v. Peraza, 288 A.D.2d 689, 691, 733 N.Y.S.2d...