## Facts

- In June 2004 in Sullivan County, New York, 17-year-old Brett Cabrera drove a Mercury Mountaineer SUV to a lake with other teenagers.
- Cabrera held a junior “class DJ” license that restricted him from carrying more than two non-family passengers under 21 and required him to ensure passengers used seat belts.
- Cabrera carried four teenage passengers, none family, and none wore seat belts; Cabrera wore his seat belt.
- The group traveled on Sackett Lake Road, a hilly, winding road with a 55 mph posted speed limit and an advisory curve speed of about 40 mph.
- Cabrera passed another teen driver who slowed for the road conditions; Cabrera maintained speed and pulled ahead.
- Cabrera lost control in a left-hand curve, left the roadway, and crashed down an embankment.
- Three passengers died and a fourth was critically injured; Cabrera suffered non-critical injuries and tested negative for alcohol and drugs.
- A police reconstructionist estimated Cabrera entered the curve at about 70 mph; the surviving passenger reported no distraction and that the vehicle first began to swerve before control was lost.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to prove criminal negligence under N.Y. Penal Law § 15.05(4) for three counts of criminally negligent homicide and one count of third-degree assault based largely on excessive speed and junior-license/seat-belt violations.
2. Whether the trial court erred by refusing a requested instruction that excessive speed or junior-license violations, standing alone, are insufficient to establish criminal negligence.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division and dismissed the criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault counts.
- The Court held the proof was legally insufficient to establish criminal negligence because the driving conduct, though negligent and unlawful, did not show the level of blameworthy risk-creation required by § 15.05(4).
- The Court further concluded the requested clarifying jury instruction should have been given, but the insufficiency ruling required dismissal regardless of the charge error.
- A dissent would have affirmed, reasoning the combination of speed, road conditions, and junior-license/seat-belt violations permitted a jury finding of a gross deviation from reasonable care.

## Legal Principles

- Criminal negligence (N.Y. Penal Law § 15.05(4)) requires failure to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk where that failure is a gross deviation from the reasonable person standard.
- Criminal negligence demands more than ordinary carelessness or error in judgment; it requires conduct reflecting serious blameworthiness, not merely a tragic result.
- Excessive speed and traffic or licensing violations may be relevant to criminal negligence but do not automatically establish it; additional evidence of egregious risk-taking may be necessary.
- The severity of the outcome (including multiple deaths) cannot substitute for proof that the defendant’s risk-creating conduct met the gross-deviation standard.

## Conclusion

The court set aside Cabrera’s criminally negligent homicide and assault convictions, holding that speeding into a curve while violating junior-license and seat-belt requirements, without proof of additional aggravating conduct, was insufficient as a matter of law to prove the “gross deviation” necessary for criminal negligence.


People v. Cabrera, 10 N.Y.3d 370 (N.Y. 2008)