People v. Minor
| Decision Date | 09 October 1975 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. William MINOR, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
K. P. Kolson, New York City, for respondent.
N. B. Pines, New York City, for defendant-appellant.
Before STEVENS, P.J., and MURPHY, LUPIANO, CAPOZZOLI and NUNEZ, JJ.
Judgment rendered in the Supreme Court, New York County, on April 30, 1973 convicting the defendant, after trial by jury, of two counts of possession of a weapon as a felony and one count of possession of a weapon as a misdemeanor, and sentencing him to concurrent sentences of up to five years, unanimously modified on the law to the extent of reversing the convictions on the count of possession of the .22 caliber pistol as a felony and the count of possession of the shotgun as a misdemeanor and ordering a new trial as to said two counts. The judgment convicting appellant of possession of the .32 caliber pistol as a felony is affirmed.
The defendant was arrested on July 13, 1972 after he was observed by the police holding a loaded .32 caliber automomatic pistol in his hand while struggling with one Rickey Jenkins in the rear seat of a parked automobile. A subsequent search of the automobile disclosed a loaded .22 caliber revolver and a sawed-off shotgun. Appellant was indicted charged with unlawful possession of the .32 automatic as a felony. In a separate indictment appellant and Jenkins were jointly charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon as a felony in relation to the loaded .22 caliber pistol and the shotgun found in the automobile.
The District Attorney commendably concedes that the convictions for possession of the shotgun and the .22 caliber pistol should be reversed and a new trial ordered, based on our disposition of People v. Jenkins, 47 A.D.2d 735, 365 N.Y.S.2d 540 wherein this Court reversed the conviction of appellant's co-defendant on the grounds that the trail court failed to properly instruct the jury (1) as to the non-mandatory nature of the statutory presumption of possession of a weapon found in an automobile; and (2) that separate verdicts could be rendered as to the guilt of each defendant regarding those offenses. Since those errors were equally prejudicial to appellant, a similar disposition should be made in this case. However, the court's imrpoper charge regarding the weapons found on the floor of the car did not relate to the loaded .32 caliber pistol that appellant held in his hand and for which he was separately indicted.
It was error to consolidate the two indictments and to try the defendants jointly. Section 200.40 CPL provides for...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lopez v. Scully, 83 Civ. 1964 (JES).
...a severance before trial, and that any objection to the consolidated trial was therefore waived. The State cited People v. Minor, 49 A.D.2d 828, 373 N.Y.S.2d 354 (1st Dept.1975), where the court had held that the failure to object to consolidation constitutes a waiver. The Appellate Divisio......
-
People v. Gutkaiss
...County Court, however, properly cured this defect when it granted defendant's pretrial motion for a severance (see, People v. Minor, 49 A.D.2d 828, 373 N.Y.S.2d 354). In defendant's view a violation of his constitutional rights occurred when County Court denied him access to the victims' sc......
-
People v. Guillot
...defendant consented to a consolidation of the two indictments, his contention is unpreserved for appellate review (see, People v. Minor, 49 A.D.2d 828, 373 N.Y.S.2d 354; see also, People v. Whethers, 191 A.D.2d 526, 594 N.Y.S.2d 351; People v. Waytes, 107 A.D.2d 774, 484 N.Y.S.2d 611), and ......
-
People v. Lopez
...as a natural part of the narrative of events regardless of whether the indictments were consolidated for trial (see People v. Minor, 49 A.D.2d 828, 829, 373 N.Y.S.2d 354, 356). Further, the Trial Judge informed the jurors that the defendants were being tried together "largely as a matter of......