Laila Haswell, senior assistant public defender, filed Catchings’ appeal on the grounds that despite witness testimony in the case that had her client pointing a loaded semiautomatic pistol at officer William Garay, a jury could not have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Catchings intended to inflict serious physical injury. According to testimony in the three-day trial, two people saw Catchings waiving a gun outside a bar on Manhattan Street called police at about 1:40 a.m.