People v. Morrison
| Decision Date | 11 March 2010 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,v.Duane MORRISON, also known as Big Homie, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
George J. Hoffman Jr., Albany, for appellant.P. David Soares, District Attorney, Albany (Steven M. Sharp of counsel), for respondent.Before: CARDONA, P.J., MERCURE, MALONE JR., KAVANAGH and McCARTHY, JJ.MALONE JR., J.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Lamont, J.), rendered April 11, 2008 in Albany County, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of attempted murder in the second degree and escape in the second degree.
In June 2007, defendant and DeShaun McWilliams entered a convenience store located in the City of Albany, wherein McWilliams physically assaulted two female teenagers. Jerry Cooley and Deontint Davis then arrived on the scene and Cooley and McWilliams engaged in an altercation. The following day, defendant told Tavarus Blackwell and Siheen Drayton that he intended to retaliate for McWilliams's injuries. Defendant then obtained a .22 caliber rifle from Drayton and proceeded with Drayton and Blackwell to a house at which Davis and Cooley had been located. They observed Cooley and Davis sitting on the porch and, from a hiding spot in a building next door, defendant fired the rifle several times, hitting Cooley in the leg and Davis in the head.
Defendant was arrested the next day and, after escaping police custody and being recaptured, he was charged with attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree and escape in the second degree. Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of attempted murder in the second degree and escape in the second degree. Defendant was thereafter sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 26 1/3 to 29 years. He appeals.
Initially, defendant's general motions to dismiss at trial were insufficient to preserve for review his contention that the verdict convicting him of attempted murder in the second degree is not supported by legally sufficient evidence ( see People v. Finger, 95 N.Y.2d 894, 895, 716 N.Y.S.2d 34, 739 N.E.2d 290 [2000]; People v. Mann, 63 A.D.3d 1372, 1373, 880 N.Y.S.2d 792 [2009], lv. denied 13 N.Y.3d 861, 891 N.Y.S.2d 695, 920 N.E.2d 100 [2009] ). Nevertheless, we must consider the sufficiency of evidence as to each element of that crime as part of our weight of the evidence review ( see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007]; People v. Mann, 63 A.D.3d at 1373, 880 N.Y.S.2d 792). In that regard, both Blackwell and Drayton testified at trial that, prior to the incident in question, defendant unequivocally expressed his intention to kill the victims, and Drayton testified that he gave the rifle to defendant. Drayton testified that defendant was wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt on the day of the shooting, a witness who heard the rifle shots observed two individuals—one wearing a brown or maroon hooded sweatshirt and carrying a rifle—flee the area, and defendant's half sister testified that defendant appeared later that day at her mother's apartment wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt. According to Blackwell, after the shooting, defendant stated that he had “put that work in,” which, according to Blackwell and Drayton, was slang for killing someone. The only evidence that defendant offered in his defense was the uncorroborated testimony of a former girlfriend, who said that defendant was with her later that night, after the shooting. Although defendant claims that the verdict acquitting him of the assault charges indicates that the jury rejected Drayton's testimony that defendant was the shooter, we note that the jury did not have to accept all of Drayton's testimony and was free to reject portions of it or...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Kruppenbacher
...1214, 1216 n. 2, 898 N.Y.S.2d 348 [2010], lv. denied 15 N.Y.3d 778, 907 N.Y.S.2d 467, 933 N.E.2d 1060 [2010]; People v. Morrison, 71 A.D.3d 1228, 1229, 896 N.Y.S.2d 253 [2010], lvs. denied 15 N.Y.3d 747, 754, 906 N.Y.S.2d 820, 827, 933 N.E.2d 219, 226 [2010] ), we do find that defendant's m......
-
People v. Garcia
...234, 360 N.Y.S.2d 623, 318 N.E.2d 784 [1974], cert. denied 419 U.S. 1122, 95 S.Ct. 806, 42 L.Ed.2d 822 [1975] ; People v. Morrison, 71 A.D.3d 1228, 1230, 896 N.Y.S.2d 253 [2010], lvs. denied 15 N.Y.3d 747, 906 N.Y.S.2d 820, 933 N.E.2d 219 [2010], 15 N.Y.3d 754, 906 N.Y.S.2d 827, 933 N.E.2d ......
-
People v. Carter
...of the evidence review ( see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 349-350, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007];People v. Morrison, 71 A.D.3d 1228, 1229, 896 N.Y.S.2d 253 [2010] ), and find the convictions to be sound. In contrast to defendant's version of events, the victim testified that a......
-
People v. Andrews
...of the charged crimes ( see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007]; People v. Morrison, 71 A.D.3d 1228, 1229, 896 N.Y.S.2d 253 [2010], lv. denied 15 N.Y.3d 747, 754, 906 N.Y.S.2d 820, 827, 933 N.E.2d 219, 226 [2010]; People v. Vargas, 72 A.D.3d at 1116......