Summary
holding that failure to feed child satisfied § 125.25
Summary of this case from Vargas-Sarmiento v. U.S. Dept. of JusticeOpinion
July 7, 1986
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Meyerson, J.).
Judgment affirmed.
The defendant, the natural father of the infant decedent, was unemployed and, by his own admission, constantly in the company of his infant son. The evidence, though circumstantial, proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant and the child's mother created a substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm in failing to feed the infant for a prolonged period of time, and acted recklessly in consciously disregarding that risk (see, People v Montanez, 41 N.Y.2d 53; People v Northrup, 83 A.D.2d 737). The testimony of the medical examiner, indicating the clear manifestations of malnutrition and dehydration, was sufficient to show that the defendant could not have failed to perceive the grave risk his conduct created (see, People v Langston, 119 A.D.2d 698). Furthermore, upon this record, there is no reasonable basis to disturb the sentencing court's exercise of discretion (see, e.g., People v Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80). Thompson, J.P., Rubin, Eiber and Spatt, JJ., concur.