People v. Branch

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 the 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.

Case Details

Case Name: People v. Branch

Court Name: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

Date Published: Aug 10, 1981

Citation: 1981 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 15243

Court Abbreviation: N.Y. App. Div.