People v. Meatte

The defendant was charged with second-degree murder and was convicted in a bench trial of manslaughter. Sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 10 to 15 years, he appeals by leave granted upon his delayed application for appeal.

The killing occurred at the apartment of the victim, McCoy. A neighbor testified that she observed a man struggling with McCoy in McCoy’s darkened apartment. Leaving her apartment door, she returned to the peephole to observe the man fire several shots through McCoy’s closed door. Other occupants of the building reported scuffling and shots at approximately the same…