The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge DiFiore, over a dissent, reversing the Appellate Division, determined the evidence was sufficient to support the defendant’s felony murder conviction. The victim was found dead two days after an assault which fractured facial bones. The medical examiner testified the facial injuries were not the cause of death. But the medical examiner, noting the victim’s obesity and enlarged heart, offered an opinion that the victim would not have died from cardiovascular disease he not been assaulted:
Here, the medical examiner’s testimony, in conjunction with the crime scene evidence, established a sufficient causal connection between defendant’s infliction of blunt force trauma injuries during the violent home invasion and the victim’s death. Specifically, the medical examiner testified that “[s]tress of any kind can hasten a person’s demise by cardiovascular disease” and that, here, the stress caused by the injuries inflicted by defendant, “given [the victim’s] underlying heart disease[,] led to his death.” That testimony, along with the crime scene evidence that defendant’s beating of the victim was severe and immediate in its consequences, “was sufficient to prove that defendant’s conduct ‘set in motion and legally caused the death’ of” the victim … . Thus, the jury could have reasonably concluded that defendant’s conduct was an actual contributory cause of the victim’s death.
With respect to foreseeability of the death, the People must prove “that the ultimate harm is something which should have been foreseen as being reasonably related to the acts of the accused” … . In this case, defendant violently attacked the victim, in his home, breaking his jaw and leaving him on the floor in a blood-spattered room where he was found dead. From all of the evidence and the circumstances surrounding this violent encounter, the proof was sufficient to permit the jury to conclude that the victim’s heart failure, induced by the extreme stress and trauma of such a violent assault, was a directly foreseeable consequence of defendant’s conduct … . People v Davis, 2016 NY Slip Op 07818, CtApp 11-21-16
CRIMINAL LAW (ALTHOUGH THE VICTIM DID NOT DIE FROM ASSAULT RELATED INJURIES, THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OPINION THE VICTIM WOULD NOT HAVE DIED FROM CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE HAD HE NOT BEEN ASSAULTED WAS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT A FELONY MURDER CONVICTION)/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, (ALTHOUGH THE VICTIM DID NOT DIE FROM ASSAULT RELATED INJURIES, THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OPINION THE VICTIM WOULD NOT HAVE DIED FROM CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE HAD HE NOT BEEN ASSAULTED WAS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT A FELONY MURDER CONVICTION)/FELONY MURDER (ALTHOUGH THE VICTIM DID NOT DIE FROM ASSAULT RELATED INJURIES, THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OPINION THE VICTIM WOULD NOT HAVE DIED FROM CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE HAD HE NOT BEEN ASSAULTED WAS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT A FELONY MURDER CONVICTION