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The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Donald McKINNON, Defendant-Appellant.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Richard Lee Price, J.), rendered May 23, 2007, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the first degree, attempted kidnapping in the second degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, and sentencing him to consecutive terms of 25 years, 15 years and 1 year, unanimously affirmed.
We find that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the People (see People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620, 467 N.Y.S.2d 349, 454 N.E.2d 932 [1983] ), was legally sufficient to establish that the victim sustained a permanently disfiguring scar on her arm as a result of being bitten by defendant (see People v. Felice, 45 A.D.3d 1442, 846 N.Y.S.2d 531 [2007], lv. denied 10 N.Y.3d 764, 854 N.Y.S.2d 326, 883 N.E.2d 1261 [2008]; People v. Kenney, 291 A.D.2d 331, 737 N.Y.S.2d 856 [2002], lv. denied 98 N.Y.2d 638, 744 N.Y.S.2d 767, 771 N.E.2d 840 [2002] ), and that defendant had the intent to cause such injury (Penal Law § 120.10[2] ). The evidence showed that, during a struggle, defendant twice bit the victim's arm, leaving bite marks that were described as “severe” and “deep.” Photographs of the bite marks were placed in evidence, and the victim displayed her scars to the jury. As to intent, the jury was entitled to draw the reasonable inference that defendant intended the natural consequences of his acts (see generally People v. Getch, 50 N.Y.2d 456, 465, 429 N.Y.S.2d 579, 407 N.E.2d 425 [1980] ). We also find that the verdict comported with 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] ).
Supreme Court did not err in imposing consecutive sentences, since defendant bit the victim after, and independent of, the events that constituted the kidnapping (see People v. Simpson, 209 A.D.2d 281, 282, 619 N.Y.S.2d 259 [1994] ).
We perceive no basis to reduce the sentences.
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Decided: June 02, 2009
Court: Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.
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