ATTEMPTED ASSAULT IN THE FIRST DEGREE COULD NOT SERVE AS A PREDICATE FOR CONVICTION OF CRIMINAL USE OF A FIREARM IN THE SECOND DEGREE.
The Fourth Department noted that attempted assault in the first degree cannot serve as a predicate for conviction of criminal use of a firearm in the second degree:
… [T]he use or display of the firearm while committing the class C felony of attempted assault in the first degree cannot serve as the predicate for his conviction of criminal use of a firearm in the second degree inasmuch as the use or display of that same firearm satisfied an element of attempted assault in the first degree … . Although defendant failed to preserve that contention for our review … , we exercise our power to review it as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice (see CPL 470.15 [6] [a]), and we modify the judgment by reversing that part convicting him of criminal use of a firearm in the second degree and dismissing that count of the indictment. People v Butler, 2017 NY Slip Op 02186, 4th Dept 3-24-17
CRIMINAL LAW (ATTEMPTED ASSAULT IN THE FIRST DEGREE COULD NOT SERVE AS A PREDICATE FOR CONVICTION OF CRIMINAL USE OF A FIREARM IN THE SECOND DEGREE)/ASSAULT (ATTEMPTED ASSAULT IN THE FIRST DEGREE COULD NOT SERVE AS A PREDICATE FOR CONVICTION OF CRIMINAL USE OF A FIREARM IN THE SECOND DEGREE)/FIREARM, CRIMINAL USE OF (ATTEMPTED ASSAULT IN THE FIRST DEGREE COULD NOT SERVE AS A PREDICATE FOR CONVICTION OF CRIMINAL USE OF A FIREARM IN THE SECOND DEGREE)