Court Opinion

ID: 5486585
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-10 02:15:10.046394+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:33:41.509562
License: Public Domain

Chief Judge Lippman (dissenting in part).
I agree with the majority that defendant was not entitled to a justification charge with respect to the crimes of manslaughter in the second degree and assault in the second degree. However, as to the remaining counts, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to defendant, he was entitled to the benefit of a choice-of-evils defense. Since the error in failing to give the requested instruction was not harmless, I dissent in part.
“Justification is a defense—as opposed to an affirmative defense—and the [P]eople have the burden of disproving such defense beyond a reasonable doubt” (People v Steele, 26 NY2d 526, 528 [1970] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]). “When evidence at trial viewed in the light most favorable to the accused, sufficiently supports a claimed defense, the court should instruct the jury as to the defense, and must when so requested. A failure by the court to charge the jury constitutes reversible error” (People v Watts, 57 NY2d 299, 301 [1982]).
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to defendant, he engaged in criminal conduct—driving while intoxicated—in an attempt to avoid the potentially greater harm that could result from an unattended truck rolling down a busy street in a densely populated area. There is no support for the conclusion that defendant recklessly caused death and serious physical injury to the victims in order to avoid greater harm. In other words, as the majority concludes as to the top two counts against him, defendant was not forced to choose between two evils (see majority op at 345). Defendant’s version of events does, however, *347clearly support the requested justification charge as to the counts of driving while intoxicated and the alcohol-related assault and manslaughter charges. It was therefore error for the court to refuse to charge the jury with the justification defense as to those counts.
This type of error will be considered harmless when there is overwhelming evidence refuting the justification defense and no reasonable possibility that the requested charge would have led to a different verdict (see People v Petty, 7 NY3d 277, 286 [2006]; People v Jones, 3 NY3d 491, 497 [2004]). It cannot be said that the People produced overwhelming proof disproving defendant’s claim of justification. One version of events may seem more likely than the other, but this presented a question of credibility for the jury to resolve. The absence of the charge certainly hurt the defense, depriving it of the judicial imprimatur of its perspective of the matter and the benefit of a favorable burden of proof. The majority’s reliance on the convictions obtained without the warranted charge hardly shows the lack of impact of the error. I would, therefore, modify to reinstate the convictions of manslaughter in the second degree and assault in the second degree, and otherwise affirm.