30 A.D.2d 828 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1968
Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County, rendered November 17, 1966, convicting him of manslaughter in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and sentencing him as a third felony offender to a prison term of 20 to 40 years. Judgment affirmed. Defendant was indicted for the crime of murder in the second degree. The testimony of two eyewitnesses to the crime clearly established defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A major contention of defendant is that the trial court erred in failing to charge on the question of motive or lack of motive to commit the murder. While it is the duty of the trial court to instruct the jury on the question of motive or lack of motive in determining a defendant’s guilt or innocence (People v. Seppi, 221 N. Y. 62, 70), we are of the opinion that the failure to so charge at bar did not, in view of defendant’s clear guilt, prejudice his substantial rights (People v. Sangamino, 258 N. Y. 85; People v. Feigenbaum, 148 N. Y. 636). We are also of the opinion that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in permitting the prosecution to reopen the case on two occasions. The ease was reopened the first time after the prosecution had rested, but before defendant put in his defense. It was reopened