Case Name: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Earl Williams and Regino Serrano, Appellants
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1974-11-14
Citations: 35 N.Y.2d 783
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Earl Williams and Regino Serrano, Appellants.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Reports
Volume: 35
Pages: 783–787

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Earl Williams and Regino Serrano, Appellants.
Argued October 7, 1974;
decided November 14, 1974.
Edward A. Meilman and Robert Kasanof for Earl Williams, appellant.
Sidney H. Stein and Robert L. Laufer for Regino Serrano, appellant.
Mario Merola, District Attorney (Daniel J. Sullivan of counsel), for respondent.

Opinion:
Memorandum. To sustain a conviction based exclusively on circumstantial evidence the facts from which the inference of the defendant's guilt is drawn must be established with certainty, must be inconsistent with his innocence and must exclude to a moral certainty every other reasonable hypothesis (Matter of Cleague, 22 N Y 2d 363, 365-366). We agree with the con elusion of the dissenter at the Appellate Division, Mr. Justice Francis T. Murphy, Jr., that the evidence in this record was not sufficient to meet this standard.
On this disposition of the appeal we do not reach defendants' other contentions.
The orders of the Appellate Division should he reversed and the indictment dismissed as to both defendants.