Opinion ID: 2215536
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: People v Agramonte

Text: On the evening of March 3, 1990, defendant and three unapprehended accomplices entered the home of Pasqual Rodriguez, an acquaintance of defendant's, under the guise of purchasing jewelry. Once inside, they strangled and stabbed Rodriguez to death, repeatedly stabbed Rodriguez's wife, and stole the couple's money and jewelry. During defendant's trial, after deliberations had commenced, the trial court delivered the following instruction prior to sending the jurors to dinner: Now, I have some special instructions for you as far as what you can do next. I am going to send the 15 of you to eat, and you will be eating together with the Court Officers. So, at this point I want the 12 jurors that are deliberating to stop deliberating. You may not at all discuss during dinner the case at all. Because, firstly, the three alternates will be with you eating and the Court Officers will be with you. Thirdly, there will be people wherever you go to eat, waiter and waitresses. The minute the 12 of you come back to this courthouse after dinner and are put back into the jury room, start to deliberate, the three alternates will be put into another room. Don't the three of you talk about the case. And have a good dinner. At no point did defendant object to the court's announced intention to send the alternate and regular jurors to dinner together. Defendant was ultimately convicted of two counts of murder in the second degree, one count of attempted murder in the second degree, one count of robbery in the first degree and two counts of assault in the first degree. Relying on our decisions in People v Santana (78 N.Y.2d 1027) and People v Coons (75 N.Y.2d 796), the Appellate Division deemed the error reviewable as a matter of law despite defendant's failure to object and reversed the convictions, finding that the trial court had violated CPL 270.30 and 310.10 by allowing the alternate jurors to dine with the regular jurors after deliberations had begun.