Court Opinion

ID: 5540523
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-10 18:35:17.12059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:34:49.452284
License: Public Domain

OPINION OF THE COURT
Memorandum.
The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed and a new trial ordered.
The trial court refused defense counsel’s request to instruct the jury in this case concerning lesser-included crimes, particularly manslaughter in the first degree. Defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree and other related crimes, and the Appellate Division affirmed the judgment of *998conviction. A Justice of the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal to this Court.
The street dispute started at 9:00 p.m. as a verbal exchange between defendant and an individual named Razor, escalated to a chase of Razor and three of his friends by defendant, who was brandishing a knife, and culminated in a multiperson melee on the ground. The homicide victim entered the fray to assist defendant, only to be stabbed twice mortally by defendant.
The lesser-included charge instruction, based on a view of the entire evidence of this street melee, cannot be said as a matter of law to have no reasonable support in the record evidence. Accordingly, the requested instruction should have been given and there should be a new trial.
Acting Chief Judge Simons and Judges Kaye, Titone, Hancock, Jr., and Bellacosa concur in memorandum; Judge Smith taking no part.
Order reversed, etc.