It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of aggravated criminal contempt (Penal Law § 215.52 [1]), criminal contempt in the first degree (§ 215.51 [b] [v]), and assault in the third degree (§ 120.00 [2]). The charges arose from his conduct in punching his ex-wife (hereafter, victim) in the side of the head, in violation of a no-offensive-contact order of protection, after exercising visitation with their two-year-old son. Although section 215.52 (1) also encompasses intentional conduct and the causation of serious physical injury, the People’s theory on the aggravated criminal contempt count was that defendant recklessly caused ordinary physical injury to the victim.
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the People, as we must (see People v Contes, 60 NY2d 620, 621 [1983]), we reject defendant’s contention that the aggravated criminal contempt and assault counts must be dismissed on the ground that the evidence is legally insufficient to establish that he acted recklessly, rather than intentionally, in causing physical injury. Defendant’s act of punching the victim once in the side of the head did not demonstrate a “manifest intent to . . . injure” that would preclude a finding of recklessness (People v Suarez, 6 NY3d 202, 212 n 6 [2005]; see People v Harris, 273 AD2d 807, 808 [2000], lv denied 95 NY2d 964 [2000]; People v Cameron, 123 AD2d 325, 325-326 [1986]; cf. People v Russell, 34 AD3d 850, 852 [2006], lv denied 8 NY3d 884 [2007]). Furthermore, viewing the evidence in light of the elements of the crimes as charged to the jury (see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 349 [2007]), we reject defendant’s contention that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence (see generally People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]). The jury was entitled to credit the testimony of the victim and reject the
Contrary to defendant’s further contention, Supreme Court did not abuse its “wide discretion in making evidentiary rulings” when it permitted the victim to testify to statements made by the child after the incident (People v Carroll, 95 NY2d 375, 385 [2000]). There was evidence that the child was still under the influence of the startling event when he made the statements even if they may have been made about 10 to 15 minutes afterward, and the statements were therefore properly admitted as excited utterances (see People v Knapp, 139 AD2d 931, 931 [1988], lv denied 72 NY2d 862 [1988]; People v Kulakowski, 135 AD2d 1119, 1119-1120 [1987], lv denied 70 NY2d 1007 [1988], reconsideration denied 72 NY2d 912 [1988]; see generally People v Johnson, 1 NY3d 302, 306 [2003]). The fact that the child was too young to give sworn testimony (see CPL 60.20 [2]) does not preclude the admission of his statements as excited utterances (see Knapp, 139 AD2d at 931).
We reject defendant’s further contention that he was deprived of a fair trial by the testimony of a police officer that defendant did not mention the defense witness to him after defendant was arrested. While that testimony constituted improper evidence of defendant’s pretrial silence (see People v Williams, 25 NY3d 185, 190-191 [2015]), the court struck the testimony in its final charge and specifically directed the jury not to consider it in determining the credibility of the defense witness. The jury is presumed to have followed the court’s curative instruction, and we conclude that it was sufficient to eliminate any prejudice to defendant (see People v Carmel, 298 AD2d 928, 929 [2002], lv denied 99 NY2d 556 [2002]; People v Shaughnessy, 286 AD2d 856, 857 [2001], lv denied 97 NY2d 688 [2001]; see also People v Clemmons, 46 AD3d 1117, 1119 [2007], lv denied 10 NY3d 763 [2008]).
By failing to object to the court’s ultimate Sandoval ruling, defendant failed to preserve for our review his challenge to that ruling (see People v Tolliver, 93 AD3d 1150, 1151 [2012], lv denied 19 NY3d 968 [2012]). In any event, defendant’s prior conviction for violating a restraining order was relevant to his
Defendant failed to object to most of the alleged instances of prosecutorial misconduct on summation, and he thus failed to preserve for our review his contention that those instances denied him a fair trial (see People v Barnes, 139 AD3d 1371, 1374 [2016], lv denied 28 NY3d 926 [2016]). In any event, we conclude that any improper remarks by the prosecutor were not so pervasive or egregious as to deny defendant a fair trial (see id.; People v Rogers, 103 AD3d 1150, 1153-1154 [2013], lv denied 21 NY3d 946 [2013]).
Defendant contends that Penal Law § 215.52 (1) is unconstitutional, i.e., that it violates his rights to equal protection, due process, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment under both the State and Federal Constitutions, because it creates a single degree of crime that does not distinguish between reckless and intentional conduct, or between causation of ordinary physical injury and serious physical injury. Although defendant raised this contention in his pretrial omnibus motion, the record does not establish that the court ruled on it, and we conclude that defendant abandoned it by failing to seek a ruling (see People v Mulligan, 118 AD3d 1372, 1375-1376 [2014], lv denied 25 NY3d 1075 [2015]). Here, similar to the facts of Mulligan, defense counsel argued other motions and obtained rulings on other applications at the outset of trial but did not seek to argue this issue; he responded “I don’t think so”
Finally, we conclude that defendant was not deprived of a fair trial by the cumulative effect of the alleged errors.
