People v. Shorey
| Decision Date | 08 April 1991 |
| Citation | 172 A.D.2d 634,568 N.Y.S.2d 436 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Winslow SHOREY, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Philip L. Weinstein (Elizabeth Manning, of counsel), New York City, for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, Dist. Atty. (Jay M. Cohen, Shulamit Rosenblum and Ruth E. Ross, of counsel), Brooklyn, for respondent.
Before LAWRENCE, J.P., and EIBER, BALLETTA and RITTER, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Marrus, J.), rendered May 3, 1989, convicting him of assault in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
On the evening of January 21, 1988, the complainant was assaulted by a man who knocked her to the ground and proceeded to stab her, inflicting a 40-centimeter laceration to her head and random stab wounds in her chest, abdomen and buttocks. The complainant's estranged husband, the defendant, was charged with the assault. Before trial, the defendant moved to preclude the People from offering any evidence that the defendant had beaten his wife while they were living together, and the court denied this application.
It is well settled that "where the evidence of prior, uncharged criminal conduct has a bearing upon a material aspect of the People's case other than the accused's general propensity toward criminality * * * the probative value of the evidence justifies its admission, notwithstanding the potential for incidental prejudice" (People v. Santarelli, 49 N.Y.2d 241, 247, 425 N.Y.S.2d 77, 401 N.E.2d 199; see, People v. Allweiss, 48 N.Y.2d 40, 47, 421 N.Y.S.2d 341, 396 N.E.2d 735; People v. Molineux, 168 N.Y. 264, 61 N.E. 286). Evidence of other bad acts or crimes may be admitted to show, among other things, motive, intent, the absence of mistake or accident, a common scheme or plan or the identity of the guilty party (see, People v. Molineux, supra).
"These Molineux exceptions are, however, subject to limitations. The evidence must not only be probative of the crime charged but its probative value must outweigh its potential for prejudice. Furthermore, the evidence must be directly related to the issue upon which it is offered or must be 'inextricably interwoven' (People v. Ely, 68 NY2d 520, 529 [510 N.Y.S.2d 532, 503 N.E.2d 88] with directly related material and it must not be unnecessary or cumulative (see, People v. Ely, supra, at 529-530 [510 N.Y.S.2d 532, 503 N.E.2d 88] (People v. Linton, 166 A.D.2d 670, 561 N.Y.S.2d 259, 260).
In this case the People presented evidence of prior bad acts and threats which the defendant made against his wife during the period of their marriage when they...
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