Opinion
2001-03986
December 2, 2002.
December 23, 2002.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Gary, J.), rendered May 3, 2001, convicting him of criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (William Kastin of counsel), for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Thomas M. Ross, and J. Machelle Sweeting of counsel), for respondent.
Before: DAVID S. RITTER, J.P., GLORIA GOLDSTEIN, STEPHEN G. CRANE, WILLIAM F. MASTRO, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.
The Supreme Court erred in admitting testimony of prior criminal acts by the defendant on the People's direct case pursuant to People v. Molineux ( 168 N.Y. 264) to prove an absence of mistake (see People v. Heiss, 221 A.D.2d 562, 563; People v. Jones, 201 A.D.2d 504, 505). Because the error was not harmless, a new trial is ordered.
In light of this determination, we need not reach the defendant's remaining contention.
RITTER, J.P., GOLDSTEIN, CRANE and MASTRO, JJ., concur.