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DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT CONVICTION INVOLVING A SINGLE VICTIM AFFIRMED, DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT NEED NOT FIT WITHIN THE NARROW EXCEPTIONS CARVED OUT FOR DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE MURDER (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Garcia, over a concurring opinion, determined that defendant was properly convicted of depraved indifference assault in connection with the long-term abuse and serious injury inflicted on his live-in girlfriend. The court noted that there is no conflict between the intention to inflict serious injury and a finding of depraved indifference in assault cases (grave risk of death). The court further noted that the circumstances giving rise to depraved indifference assault need not fit into the narrow exceptions carved out for depraved indifference murder:

Here, the trial court instructed the jury … that they could find defendant acted with depraved indifference to human life if, “having a conscious objective not to kill but to harm, he engages in . . . a brutal, prolonged and potentially fatal course of conduct against a particularly vulnerable victim.” The failure of either party to object to the charge meant that “the law as stated in that charge became the law applicable to the determination of the rights of the parties . . . and thus established the legal standard by which the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict must be judged”… . Thus, “the legal sufficiency of defendant’s conviction must be viewed in light of the court’s charge as given without exception” … .

Viewed as such, the jury could reasonably conclude that the victim’s injuries were so severely debilitating that the repeated trauma rendered her particularly vulnerable. In fact, the victim could barely move and speak before she lapsed into a coma. The People also presented sufficient evidence from which the jury could infer that the victim’s injuries persisted for a prolonged period of time. * * *

… [D]defendant is incorrect that depraved indifference assault must fit into one of the narrow exceptions for bringing depraved indifference murder charges in one-on-one killings. * * * … [D]epraved indifference assault should not be constrained to the exceptions to the rule against charging depraved indifference murder in one-on-one killings. People v Wilson, 2018 NY Slip Op 04380, CtApp 6-14-18

CRIMINAL LAW (EVIDENCE, DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT CONVICTION INVOLVING A SINGLE VICTIM AFFIRMED, DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT NEED NOT FIT WITHIN THE NARROW EXCEPTIONS CARVED OUT FOR DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE MURDER (CT APP))/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT CONVICTION INVOLVING A SINGLE VICTIM AFFIRMED, DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT NEED NOT FIT WITHIN THE NARROW EXCEPTIONS CARVED OUT FOR DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE MURDER (CT APP))/DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT (DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT CONVICTION INVOLVING A SINGLE VICTIM AFFIRMED, DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT NEED NOT FIT WITHIN THE NARROW EXCEPTIONS CARVED OUT FOR DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE MURDER (CT APP))/ASSAULT (DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT CONVICTION INVOLVING A SINGLE VICTIM AFFIRMED, DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE ASSAULT NEED NOT FIT WITHIN THE NARROW EXCEPTIONS CARVED OUT FOR DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE MURDER (CT APP))

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