Opinion
20
Decided March 14, 2002.
APPEAL, by permission of the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, entered January 9, 2001, which affirmed a judgment of the Supreme Court (Harold Rothwax, J.), rendered in New York County upon a verdict convicting defendant of manslaughter in the first degree.
People v. Williams, 279 A.D.2d 276, affirmed.
Michael J.Z. Mannheimer, for appellant.
Patricia Curran, for respondent.
Chief Judge Kaye and Judges, Smith, Levine, Ciparick, Wesley, Rosenblatt and Graffeo concur.
MEMORANDUM:
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed. Defendant was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree after a jury trial. Defendant sought to introduce expert psychiatric evidence with regard to his justification defense "[i]n order to have the jury properly understand [his] state of mind as it impacts on his intent." To give defendant's request the "in-depth thought that it deserves," the trial court asked for an offer of proof as to the content of the proposed expert psychiatric evidence. Defendant indicated that the expert would testify that "at the time of the murder [defendant] demonstrated paranoid delusional thinking and behavior" and "believed the victim of the murder was going to rob him of thousands of dollars worth of jewels." The trial court denied the request, and the Appellate Division subsequently affirmed defendant's conviction.
"As a general rule, the admissibility and limits of expert testimony lie primarily in the sound discretion of the trial court" (see, People v. Lee, 96 N.Y.2d 157, 162; People v. Cronin, 60 N.Y.2d 430, 433). We agree with the Appellate Division to the extent it determined that the trial court properly exercised its discretion in excluding the testimony of the expert.
Order affirmed, in a memorandum.