People v. Corbin

GONZALEZ

Richard M. Greenberg, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Eunice C. Lee of counsel), for appellant. Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Nancy D. Killian of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Michael A. Gross, J.), rendered March 23, 2009, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 14 years, unanimously affirmed.

The People established that the victim had a sufficient familiarity with defendant to make a confirmatory identification ( see People v. Rodriguez, 79 N.Y.2d 445, 583 N.Y.S.2d 814, 593 N.E.2d 268 [1992] ). A few months before the crime the victim had a conversation with defendant about mating their dogs, after which the victim saw defendant many times in the neighborhood while defendant was driving his car. The victim also had a fight with defendant shortly before the shooting, and was able to provide the investigating detective with defendant's first name.

The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence ( see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ). We reject defendant's challenge to the weight of the evidence supporting the element of serious physical injury. Seventeen months after the shooting, the victim, a high school student, led a less active life than before the crime because he still suffered pain from his wound. This established a protracted impairment of health ( see Penal Law § 10.00[10]; People v. Graham, 297 A.D.2d 579, 580, 747 N.Y.S.2d 171 [2002], lv. denied 99 N.Y.2d 535, 752 N.Y.S.2d 596, 782 N.E.2d 574 [2002] ).

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.