50 A.D.2d 932 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1975
— Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County, rendered June 25, 1975, convicting him of perjury in the first degree (three counts), upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment reversed, on the law, and new trial ordered. On August 10, 1971 defendant, then 19 years of age, while at the Green Isle Bar in the company of his brother, witnessed a murder. Notwithstanding the fact that there were 30 other patrons in the bar at the time of the shooting, defendant emerged as the sole eyewitness. All the other patrons claimed they had not witnessed the incident. Defendant appeared before the Grand Jury on September 8, 1971 and testified that a man known to him as Ricciardi (alias Tony Long) took out a pistol, shot one Reda, and then left the tavern. From the time of his Grand Jury testimony and continuing up to February, 1973, defendant intermittently received threats against his own life and well-