PEOPLE v. THOMPSON (2020)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Robert M. Mandelbaum, J.), rendered September 15, 2017, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of seven years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's legal sufficiency claim is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we reject it on the merits. We also find that 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]). There is no basis for disturbing the jury's credibility determinations, including those relating to the victim's description of his injuries.

The element of physical injury was established by the injured correction officer's testimony that he sustained a laceration to his lip, felt pain and soreness in his hands and knees, and remained out of work for several days. Despite the brevity of the altercation, this testimony, corroborated by the injured officer's medical records, amply supported the jury's finding that the officer sustained “more than slight or trivial pain” (People v. Chiddick, 8 N.Y.3d 445, 447, 834 N.Y.S.2d 710, 866 N.E.2d 1039 [2007]) as the result of defendant's assault (see e.g. People v. Ross, 163 A.D.3d 428, 429, 80 N.Y.S.3d 258 [1st Dept. 2018]).

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.