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People v. Park
Citation: 2022 NY Slip Op 05930Docket: Ind No. 493/17 Appeal No. 16510 Case No. 2022-02405
Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York; October 20, 2022; New York; State Appellate Court
Original Court Document: View Document
The Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court of New York County, convicting James Park of first-degree manslaughter following a jury trial, and sentencing him to 20 years in prison. The court upheld the denial of Park's request for a justification charge, determining that no reasonable interpretation of the evidence supported his claim of self-defense when he displayed a knife and fatally stabbed an unarmed victim. The court noted that regardless of Park’s assertion about a crowd encouraging the victim to attack him, he was the only one armed. Furthermore, the court found that the evidence justified the submission of first-degree manslaughter as a lesser included offense of second-degree murder, based on a reasonable interpretation of Park's intent to cause serious physical injury rather than to kill. Although Park contended that the prosecutor's closing arguments focused too heavily on murder, the court stated that the prosecution was entitled to present both a primary and a fallback theory. The court also ruled that Park's challenge to certain prosecutorial comments during summation was unpreserved for appeal, and declined to review it. The decision was officially entered on October 20, 2022.