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ALTHOUGH THE VICTIM’S FACIAL SCARS WERE SHOWN TO THE JURY NO DESCRIPTION OF THE SCARS APPEARS IN THE TRIAL RECORD AND NO PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SCARS WAS INTRODUCED; THEREFORE THE SERIOUS DISFIGUREMENT ELEMENT OF ASSAULT FIRST WAS NOT DEMONSTRATED AND THE ASSAULT FIRST CONVICTION WAS AGAINST THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE; CONVICTION REDUCED TO ATTEMPTED ASSAULT FIRST (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, finding the assault first conviction to be against the weight of the evidence and reducing it to attempted assault first, determined the record of the evidence presented at trial did not support the serious disfigurement element in this knife attack case:

The testimonial, photographic and documentary evidence demonstrated that the victim sustained a laceration to his right cheek that was approximately four centimeters long, as well as a similarly sized laceration transversing the tip of his nose to his right nostril. Both lacerations were sutured by a plastic surgeon. Although the evidence clearly demonstrated the locations of the lacerations and their size prior to and immediately after suturing, the record is imprecise as to the extent and appearance of any resulting facial scars. The People did not introduce a photograph depicting the victim’s nose and right cheek at the time of trial or any time after the sutures had been removed and the lacerations healed … . Further, although the physician who treated the victim testified that the victim was expected to have facial scars and the victim did in fact display facial scars to the jury, the People failed to make a contemporaneous record of what the jury observed, so as to demonstrate the extent and appearance of those scars … . Moreover, despite their prominent locations, there is no indication that the relatively small facial lacerations produced jagged, uneven or “unusually disturbing” scars … . In the absence of a photograph depicting the victim’s facial scars or an on-the-record description of the victim’s scars at the time of trial, we cannot conclude that the record evidence supports a finding of serious disfigurement … . People v Harris, 2020 NY Slip Op 04431, Third Dept 8-6-20

 

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