| People v Santiago |
| 2017 NY Slip Op 08190 [155 AD3d 506] |
| November 21, 2017 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Santos Santiago, Appellant. |
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (John Vang of counsel), forappellant.
Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Shera Knight of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Eugene Oliver, J.), rendered August 11, 2014, asamended May 11, 2016 and April 28, 2017, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, ofmanslaughter in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, andsentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 20 years,unanimously reversed, as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and the matter remandedfor a new trial.
As in cases such as People vVelez (131 AD3d 129 [1st Dept 2015]), the court's charge failed to convey that anacquittal on the top count of second-degree murder based on a finding of justification wouldpreclude consideration of the remaining charges. We find that this error was not harmless andwarrants reversal in the interest of justice (see e.g. People v Kareem, 148 AD3d 550 [1st Dept 2017], lvdismissed 29 NY3d 1033 [2017]). We have considered and rejected the People's variousarguments for affirmance.
Since we are ordering a new trial, we find it unnecessary to reach defendant's remainingcontentions. Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias, Oing and Singh, JJ.