People v. Rice

• Decision Date: 14 June 2018
• Docket Number: 108321
• Citation: 78 N.Y.S.3d 776,162 A.D.3d 1244
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Sean T. RICE, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

162 A.D.3d 1244

78 N.Y.S.3d 776

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,

v.Sean T. RICE, Appellant.

108321

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

Calendar Date: April 25, 2018

Decided and Entered: June 14, 2018

Carolyn B. George, Albany, for appellant, and appellant pro se.

Joseph Stanzione, District Attorney, Catskill (Danielle D. McIntosh of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Garry, P.J., Lynch, Clark, Aarons and Rumsey, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Garry, P.J.

Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (Mott, J.), rendered February 24, 2016 in Greene County, convicting defendant following a nonjury trial of the crimes of arson in the fourth degree and reckless endangerment in the second degree.

In May 2014, defendant was charged in a 32–count indictment with offenses arising from a fire that he lit in his cell while housed as an inmate in Coxsackie Correctional Facility. All but two of the counts were dismissed as multiplicitous, and defendant went to trial solely on charges of arson in the second degree and reckless endangerment in the first degree. Following a nonjury trial, he was ultimately convicted of the lesser included offenses of arson in the fourth degree and reckless endangerment in the second degree. Defendant was sentenced, as a second felony offender, to a prison term of 1½ to 3 years on the conviction for arson in the fourth degree and to a one-year conditional discharge on the conviction for reckless endangerment in the second degree, to be served consecutively to the sentence he was then serving on an unrelated matter. Defendant appeals.

Initially, defendant failed to preserve for our review his contention that his conviction of arson in the fourth degree is not supported by legally sufficient evidence demonstrating damages, "as defense counsel's motion for a trial order of dismissal was not ‘specifically directed at the alleged error’ " ( People v. Green , 141 A.D.3d 1036, 1037, 36 N.Y.S.3d 312 [2016], lv denied 28 N.Y.3d 1072, 47 N.Y.S.3d 231, 69 N.E.3d 1027 [2016], quoting People v. Gray , 86 N.Y.2d 10, 19, 629 N.Y.S.2d 173, 652 N.E.2d 919 [1995] ). Nevertheless, as defendant also contends that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, we must evaluate "whether all elements of the charged crime[ ] were proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial" ( People v. Agron , 106 A.D.3d 1126, 1127–1128, 964 N.Y.S.2d 694 [2013] [internal quotation marks, brackets and citation omitted], lv denied 21 N.Y.3d 1013, 971 N.Y.S.2d 495, 994 N.E.2d 391 [2013] ; see People v. Coleman , 144 A.D.3d 1197, 1198, 40 N.Y.S.3d 637 [2016] ). Where, as here, a different verdict would not have been unreasonable, our weight of the evidence review requires this Court to "weigh the relative strength of conflicting testimony and the relative strength of the conflicting inferences that may be drawn from the testimony" ( People v. Bleakley 69 N.Y.2d 490, 495, 515 N.Y.S.2d 761, 508 N.E.2d 672 [1987] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; accord People v. Robinson , 156 A.D.3d 1123, 1125, 67 N.Y.S.3d 709 [2017], lv denied 30 N.Y.3d 1119, 77 N.Y.S.3d 344, 101 N.E.3d 985 [2018] ; see People v. Olsen , 124 A.D.3d 1084, 1085–1086, 1 N.Y.S.3d 555 [2015], lv denied 26 N.Y.3d 933, 17 N.Y.S.3d 96, 38 N.E.3d 842 [2015] ).

As pertinent here, "[a] person is guilty of arson in the fourth degree when he [or she] recklessly damages a building or motor vehicle by intentionally starting a fire or causing an explosion" ( Penal Law § 150.05 ). In this regard, "[t]he slightest damage to a building caused by a fire which is intentionally set is sufficient to establish the damage element of this crime" ( People v. Fleming , 164 A.D.2d 942, 943, 560 N.Y.S.2d 50 [1990], lv denied 76 N.Y.2d 1021, 565 N.Y.S.2d 771, 566 N.E.2d 1176 [1990] ; see People v. McDonald , 68 N.Y.2d 1, 13–14, 505 N.Y.S.2d 824, 496 N.E.2d 844 [1986] ). As defendant's challenge to the weight of the evidence is limited to the element of damages, our review thus distills to that issue alone.

It is undisputed that, on the night in question, defendant intentionally set fire to clothing and other personal items in his cell. As a result of the smoke created by the burning of defendant's belongings and his fire-proof mattress, all of the inmates located in defendant's housing unit and the unit on the floor above had to be evacuated shortly after midnight, and they were unable to return to their cells for an extended period of time. Five correction officers who responded to the incident consistently testified—and defendant acknowledged—that the fire created thick smoke that made it hard to breathe and required many officers to crawl on their hands and knees in responding to the incident; defendant testified that he had to lie on the floor of his cell to access a small opening at the bottom of his door in order to breathe cleaner air. Defendant contends that damages were limited to his personal items or furniture. In contrast, four correction officers each testified to seeing a blackening of defendant's cell wall above where the fire had been set. Significantly, an expert in arson investigations who responded to the incident testified that he had discovered areas of defendant's cell wall where paint had boiled off, as well as signs of "spalling," which he described as the "concrete actually coming apart" and, thus, "creating a crater or a divot in the wall" as a result of the heat of the fire. Viewing this evidence in a neutral light and giving deference to the underlying credibility assessments, as we must, we cannot say that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence (see People v. Narimanbekov , 258 A.D.2d 417, 417–418, 686 N.Y.S.2d 382 [1999] ; People v. Calderon, 256 A.D.2d 122, 122, 682 N.Y.S.2d 38 [1998], lv denied 93 N.Y.2d 851, 688 N.Y.S.2d 498, 710 N.E.2d 1097 [1999]; see also People v. Jackson , 265 A.D.2d 343, 343, 696 N.Y.S.2d 75 [1999], lv denied 94 N.Y.2d 824, 702 N.Y.S.2d 594, 724 N.E.2d 386 [1999] ). Upon this record, we further find no merit in defendant's contention that he was entitled to the defense of justification on the basis that he allegedly started the fire to create smoke in an effort to seek redress for his broken cell toilet, as "there [was] a reasonable, legal alternative course of action" ( People v. Craig , 78 N.Y.2d 616, 623, 578 N.Y.S.2d 471, 585 N.E.2d 783 [1991] ; see Penal Law § 35.05[2] ).

Defendant next asserts that he was improperly sentenced as a second felony offender without a hearing. We disagree. Where, as here, "it appears that a defendant who stands convicted of a felony has previously been convicted of a predicate felony and may be a second felony offender as defined in [ Penal Law § 70.06 ]," a hearing is required "[w]here the defendant controverts an allegation in the [predicate felony] statement and the uncontroverted allegations in such statement are not sufficient to support a finding that the defendant has been subjected to such a predicate felony conviction" ( CPL 400.21[1], [5] ). In this regard, defendant's instant conviction of arson in the fourth degree is a class E felony (see Penal Law § 150.05 ). The People properly filed the appropriate predicate felony statement pursuant to CPL 400.21(2), indicating that defendant had previously been convicted in 2008 of burglary in the third degree, a class D felony, and of attempted burglary in the third degree, a class E felony, and in 2012 of criminal sexual act in the first degree, a...