People v. Lilly

Simons, J. (dissenting).

Defendant has been convicted of the murder of Janet Area’s three-month-old baby, Vickie, because with "depraved indifference” to Vickie’s life, he recklessly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death to her and which resulted in her death on July 24, 1978 (Penal Law, § 125.25, subd 2). Defendant was sentenced to a mandatory term of imprisonment of 15 years to life.1 Pursuant to the one-count indictment, the prosecution attempted to prove that defendant criminally assaulted Vickie Arca and that his as*397saults were a direct cause of her death; that he aided…