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People v. Johnson

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Fourth Department
May 27, 1994
204 A.D.2d 1024 (N.Y. App. Div. 1994)

Opinion

May 27, 1994

Appeal from the Onondaga County Court, Burke, J.

Present — Denman, P.J., Green, Lawton, Wesley and Callahan, JJ.


Judgment unanimously affirmed. Memorandum: County Court properly denied defendant's motion to dismiss for insufficiency the second count of the indictment charging sexual abuse in the first degree. The standard for determining whether the description of an offense is sufficiently precise is one of reasonableness, and it is usually sufficient to charge the language of the statute (see, People v. Iannone, 45 N.Y.2d 589, 599). Defendant did not object to the failure of the People to amplify the language of the indictment in their bill of particulars, and thus failed to preserve that issue for review (see, CPL 470.05; People v. Leon, 115 A.D.2d 907, 908; People v. Willette, 109 A.D.2d 112, 113). The insufficiency of the evidence of sexual abuse before the Grand Jury is not reviewable upon appeal from the ensuing judgment of conviction, which is based upon legally sufficient trial evidence (see, CPL 210.30; People v. Krouth, 201 A.D.2d 912).

The proof of forcible compulsion is sufficient to support the conviction of rape in the first degree and sexual abuse in the first degree (see, People v. Queener, 166 A.D.2d 915, lv denied 77 N.Y.2d 910). Because defendant failed to assert before the trial court that his conviction of unlawful imprisonment in the second degree was barred by the merger doctrine, that contention has not been preserved for review (see, CPL 470.05; People v. Geer, 188 A.D.2d 1014, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 1073; People v. McNamara, 186 A.D.2d 984, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 791).

Defendant did not object to the court's supplemental jury instruction. Defendant's contention that the instruction was defective thus has not been preserved for review (see, CPL 470.05; People v. White, 166 A.D.2d 910, lv denied 76 N.Y.2d 992), and we decline to address it as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice (see, CPL 470.15 [a]). The court's instruction on reasonable doubt as a whole adequately conveyed the proper standard to be applied by the jury (see, People v Tolbert, 203 A.D.2d 901).


Summaries of

People v. Johnson

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Fourth Department
May 27, 1994
204 A.D.2d 1024 (N.Y. App. Div. 1994)
Case details for

People v. Johnson

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. EARNEST JOHNSON, JR.…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Fourth Department

Date published: May 27, 1994

Citations

204 A.D.2d 1024 (N.Y. App. Div. 1994)
612 N.Y.S.2d 528

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