PEOPLE v. MENA (2018)

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Troy K. Webber, J.), rendered November 16, 2015, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of 22 years, unanimously modified, on the law, to the extent of vacating the sentence and remanding the matter for a youthful offender determination, and otherwise affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress statements.  The record supports the court's factual determination that defendant's comprehension of English was sufficient to enable him to understand his Miranda rights, and that his confession was otherwise voluntary (see People v. Jin Cheng Lin, 26 N.Y.3d 701, 725–727, 27 N.Y.S.3d 439, 47 N.E.3d 718 [2016];  People v. Williams, 62 N.Y.2d 285, 289, 476 N.Y.S.2d 788, 465 N.E.2d 327 [1984] ).  Although defendant's first language was Spanish, a bilingual detective asked him, in Spanish, if he was comfortable speaking in English, and he replied that he was.  Throughout the interview, defendant gave no indication that he did not understand the detectives' questions or needed any assistance from the bilingual detective.  Defendant also conversed with the detectives in English at various other times, before and after this interview.

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] ).  Evidence that defendant stabbed the victim in the side, after his codefendants had inflicted stab wounds that ultimately proved fatal, and grabbed the victim by throat, demanding to know whether the victim was a member of a rival gang, supported the conclusion that he shared his codefendants' intent to cause, at least, serious physical injury (see People v. Allah, 71 N.Y.2d 830, 832, 527 N.Y.S.2d 731, 522 N.E.2d 1029 [1988] ).

The People concede that defendant is entitled to an express youthful offender determination, even though defense counsel stated that he was not asking for such treatment.