Opinion
12-15-2016
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Jose FLORES, Defendant–Appellant.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Hunter Haney of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Karen Schlossberg of counsel), for respondent.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Hunter Haney of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Karen Schlossberg of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bruce Allen, J.), rendered July 9, 2014, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree and gang assault in the first degree, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 15 years, unanimously reversed, as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, the murder count dismissed with leave to re-present any appropriate charges to the grand jury, and the matter otherwise remanded for a new trial on the gang assault count.As in cases such as People v. Velez, 131 A.D.3d 129, 13 N.Y.S.3d 354 (1st Dept.2015), the court's charge did not convey to the jury that an acquittal on the top count of murder in the second degree based on a finding of justification would preclude consideration of the other charges. We note that the People did not object to giving a justification charge. We find that the error in the wording of the charge was not harmless, and that it warrants reversal in the interest of justice for the reasons stated in Velez.
SWEENY, J.P., RENWICK, RICHTER, MANZANET–DANIELS, KAPNICK, JJ., concur.