PEOPLE v. JACHERO (2025)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Kirke A. Bartley, J.), rendered February 21, 2017, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of five years, and 31/212 to 7 years, respectively, unanimously affirmed.

We decline to dismiss defendant's appeal under the fugitive disentitlement doctrine (see People v. Taveras, 10 N.Y.3d 227, 232, 855 N.Y.S.2d 417, 885 N.E.2d 181 [2008]) even though he absconded and has not been contactable for more than two years.  Because “disposition of the discrete [weight of the evidence] issue[ ] would result in either an affirmance or outright dismissal of the convictions, neither outcome would require the continued legal participation of defendants” (People v. Ventura, 17 N.Y.3d 675, 682, 934 N.Y.S.2d 756, 958 N.E.2d 884 [2011]).

Defendant's guilt was supported by 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];  see also People v. Baque, 43 N.Y.3d 26, 229 N.Y.S.3d 62, 254 N.E.3d 606 [2024]).  The testimony from three eyewitnesses, including that of a police officer who observed the assault, provided an ample basis for the jury to conclude that defendant was the individual who assaulted plaintiff with a glass bottle (see People v. Tapia, 151 A.D.3d 437, 437–439, 56 N.Y.S.3d 78 [1st Dept. 2017], affd 33 N.Y.3d 257, 100 N.Y.S.3d 660, 124 N.E.3d 210 [2019], cert denied ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S.Ct. 643, 205 L.Ed.2d 385 [2019]).