PEOPLE v. BUIE (2009)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert Stolz, J.), rendered September 24, 2007, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of attempted assault in the second degree and menacing in the second degree, and sentencing her to a term of 6 months, with 5 years' probation, unanimously affirmed.

The evidence was legally sufficient to establish that the liquid bleach defendant threw at the victim was a dangerous instrument (see Penal Law § 10.00[10], § [13] ).   Despite the absence of expert testimony, the jury could have reasonably concluded, from the victim's injuries, from the damage to a carpet and to the victim's clothing, and from its own knowledge and experience regarding the properties of bleach (see e.g. Havas v. Victory Paper Stock Co., 49 N.Y.2d 381, 386, 426 N.Y.S.2d 233, 402 N.E.2d 1136 [1980] ), that the bleach was readily capable of causing serious injury such as disfiguring burns.