People v. Holt

• Decision Date: 20 March 1986
• Citation: 501 N.Y.S.2d 641,67 N.Y.2d 819,492 N.E.2d 769
• Parties: , 492 N.E.2d 769 The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. James HOLT, True Name Jerome Smith, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 641

501 N.Y.S.2d 641

67 N.Y.2d 819, 492 N.E.2d 769

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v.James HOLT, True Name Jerome Smith, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

March 20, 1986.

David Samel and Philip L. Weinstein, New York City, for appellant.

Robert M. Morgenthau, Dist. Atty. (Joyce P. Adolfsen and Mark Dwyer, New York City, of counsel), for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURTMEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division, 111 A.D.2d 706, 491 N.Y.S.2d 883, should be reversed and a new trial ordered.

Defendant was convicted of stabbing a man to death in a parking lot on West 39th Street, near 9th Avenue, in Manhattan, based upon the testimony of a single eyewitness.At trial, defendant testified that, at the time that the crime was committed, he was 11 blocks away, on West 50th Street, and that, earlier in the evening he had been walking on 8th Avenue, past 39th Street, one-half block from the parking lot, but was never closer than that to the crime scene.The trial court denied defendant's request for an alibi charge, without explanation.

This was error.As we noted in People v. Barbato, 254 N.Y. 170, 178-179, 172 N.E.2d 458."If the proof as to an alibi raises a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury as to whether the accused was present at the place and time where and when the crime was committed, the accused is entitled to have the defense fairly treated like any other defense and is not obliged to establish that it was impossible for him to commit the act charged.If under the evidence tending, if true, to prove an alibi, it may have been possible for the defendant to have committed the crime, it is still for the jury to determine whether, if the evidence is true, he availed himself of the possibility it afforded * * * If the proof as to an alibi, when taken into consideration...