People v. Branch

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

People v. Branch

83 A.D.2d 855, 441 N.Y.S.2d 737, 1981 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 15243

CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

DecidedAugust 10, 1981

StatusPublished

Cited by2 cases

This text of 83 A.D.2d 855 (People v. Branch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

People v. Branch, 83 A.D.2d 855, 441 N.Y.S.2d 737, 1981 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 15243 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1981).

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Opinion

Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Goldstein, J.), rendered June 20,1977, convicting him of burglary in the third degree and grand larceny in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment reversed, on the law and as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and new trial ordered. Defendant was deprived of a fair trial due to the trial court’s improper statements to the jury during its charge that (1) a quorum of the 23 grand jurors handed down an indictment in the instant case (see People v Williams, 57 AD2d 876; People v Evans, 63 AD2d 653; cf. People v Fortt, 35 NY2d 921, revg 42 AD2d 859, on dissenting mem at App Div); (2) the jury’s failure to agree would lead to a hung jury which would result in a new trial “with tremendous expense to the State” (see People v Ali, 47 NY2d 920); and (3) “the question of punishment rests on [856]*856the shoulders of this Judge. And you can be sure that my shoulders are big enough and broad enough to assume and carry that responsibility” (see People v Davis, 73 AD2d 693). Apart from any consideration of the evidence adduced at the trial, the above-mentioned errors are such that, taken together, they deprived defendant of a fair trial. Gibbons, J.P., Gulotta, Cohalan and Bracken, JJ., concur.

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Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Goldstein, J.), rendered June 20,1977, convicting him of burglary in the third degree and grand larceny in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment reversed, on the law and as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and new trial ordered. Defendant was deprived of a fair trial due to the trial court’s improper statements to the jury during its charge that (1) a quorum of the 23 grand jurors handed down an indictment in the instant case (see People v Williams, 57 AD2d 876; People v Evans, 63 AD2d 653; cf. People v Fortt, 35 NY2d 921, revg 42 AD2d 859, on dissenting mem at App Div); (2) the jury’s failure to agree would lead to a hung jury which would result in a new trial “with tremendous expense to the State” (see People v Ali, 47 NY2d 920); and (3) “the question of punishment rests on [856]*856the shoulders of this Judge. And you can be sure that my shoulders are big enough and broad enough to assume and carry that responsibility” (see People v Davis, 73 AD2d 693). Apart from any consideration of the evidence adduced at the trial, the above-mentioned errors are such that, taken together, they deprived defendant of a fair trial. Gibbons, J.P., Gulotta, Cohalan and Bracken, JJ., concur.

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Bluebook (online)

83 A.D.2d 855, 441 N.Y.S.2d 737, 1981 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 15243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-branch-nyappdiv-1981.

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