After K. was convicted by a Kings County Supreme Court jury of criminal mischief in the second degree and bail jumping in the second degree, and was later sentenced, an appeal followed.
Apparently, K. was accused of causing significant damage to property he leased while filming music videos. The damage included removing sheetrock, metal studs, fireproofing, and sound insulation from the walls and ceiling, ripping out electrical cables, destroying kitchen and office cabinets, and removing kitchen appliances. Despite K’s claim that his intent was to renovate or improve the premises, the Appellate Division, Second Department, thought there was sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that K. set out to damage the property.
As for the bail-jumping charge, K. argued that the prosecutor's statement during summation, wherein it was incorrectly suggested that K. had chosen the adjourned court date he missed, deprived K of a fair trial. But the AD2 noted that the jury was later informed that it was actually K's lawyer who picked the date, and thus, the misstatement didn’t impact the proceeding’s fairness.
Since the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction, and the verdict wasn’t against the weight of the evidence, the appellate court affirmed the judgment. (The court also declined to review unpreserved contentions regarding other remarks made by the prosecutor during summation.)
That about sums that up.
# # #
DECISION