Opinion
No. 570481/16
09-27-2022
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Antonio Quispe, Defendant-Appellant.
Unpublished Opinion
PRESENT: BRIGANTTI, J.P., TISCH, MICHAEL, JJ.
PER CURIAM
Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (Heidi C. Cesare, J.), rendered May 26, 2016, convicting him, upon his plea of guilty, of sexual abuse in the third degree, and imposing sentence.
Judgment of conviction (Heidi C. Cesare, J.), rendered May 26, 2016, affirmed.
In view of defendant's knowing waiver of his right to prosecution by information, the accusatory instrument only had to satisfy the reasonable cause requirement (see People v Dumay, 23 N.Y.3d 518, 522 [2014]). So viewed, the accusatory instrument was jurisdictionally valid because it described facts of an evidentiary nature establishing reasonable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of sexual abuse in the third degree (see Penal Law § 130.55). The instrument recited that defendant "push[ed] his groin against a woman's buttocks" near the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center and "repeatedly rub[bed] against her"; that the victim "turn[ed] around and look[ed]" at defendant, appearing "alarmed"; and that defendant repeated this conduct after the victim moved away. The deponent officer further stated that defendant engaged in the same conduct with four additional women, one of whom appeared "annoyed, angry and alarmed" and stated that defendant "humped me." These allegations were sufficient to support the inference that defendant acted for the purpose of sexual gratification and without the victims' consent (see People v Bookard, 167 A.D.3d 424 [2018], lv denied 32 N.Y.3d 1169 [2019]; see also People v Hatton, 26 N.Y.3d 364, 370 [2015]; People v Guaman, 22 N.Y.3d 678 [2014]). The absence of a verbal protest by the victims does not compel a finding that she impliedly acquiesced in the sexual contact to which she was subjected (see Penal Law § 130.05[2][c]; People v D'Alessio, 9 Misc.3d 64 [2005], lv denied 5 N.Y.3d 851 [2005]).
All concur