People v. Morrison

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of assault in the second degree (Penal Law § 120.05 [4]) and upon his plea of guilty of reckless endangerment in the second degree (§ 120.20). The conviction arises out of an incident in which defendant, while a passenger in the front seat of a vehicle, interfered with the driver’s operation of the vehicle and caused it to collide with the victim’s vehicle. The contention of defendant that County Court erred in conducting the Sandoval hearing in his absence is raised for the first time in defendant’s reply brief…