People v. Hitchcock

OPINION OF THE COURT

Levine, J.

These appeals involve the charge of endangering the welfare of a child as applied in the context of shooting accidents in which a child in the household of a gun owner obtained unauthorized possession of a weapon and inadvertently discharged it, resulting in another child’s injury or death. Under Penal Law § 260.10 (1), a person endangers the welfare of a child when “[h]e knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a child less than seventeen years old.” The common issue in both appeals is whether the evidence was…