People v. Santiago

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Eugene Oliver, J.), rendered August 11, 2014, as amended May 11, 2016 and April 28, 2017, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 20 years, unanimously reversed, as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and the matter remanded for a new trial. As in cases such as People v Velez (131 AD3d 129 [1st Dept 2015]), the court’s charge failed to convey that an acquittal on the top count of second-degree murder based on a finding of justification would preclude consideration of the remaining charges. We find that this error was not harmless and warrants reversal in the interest of justice (see e.g. People v Kareem, 148 AD3d 550 [1st Dept 2017], lv dismissed 29 NY3d 1033 [2017]). We have considered and rejected the People’s various arguments for affirmance. Since we are ordering a new trial, we find it unnecessary to reach defendant’s remaining contentions. Concur—Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Andrias, Oing and Singh, JJ.