THE PEOPLE &C., RESPONDENT, v. REUBEN SLACKS, APPELLANT.
90 N.Y.2d 850, 683 N.E.2d 769, 660 N.Y.S.2d 863 (1997).
June 27, 1997
1 No. 142 (1997 NY Int. 125)
Decided June 27, 1997
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This memorandum is uncorrected and subject to revision before
publication in the New York Reports.
Nancy E. Little, for appellant.
Lisa Drury, for respondent.
MEMORANDUM:
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.
Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of felony murder, two
counts of first degree robbery, and one count of criminal possession
of a weapon in the second degree. The indictment arose out of a
robbery of two men in a parked car by defendant and other
unapprehended persons, during which one of the men in the car was
fatally shot. His conviction having been affirmed by the Appellate
Division (225 AD2d 805), defendant argues before this Court that
certain aspects of the trial court's charge to the jury warrant
reversal.
At trial, defendant objected to the court's instruction during the
charge to the jury that the trial of this indictment was "a search for
the truth." Reviewing this statement in the context of the jury
instructions in their entirety, there is no basis for concluding that
the proper burden of proof upon the People was undermined or less than
adequately conveyed (see, People v Coleman, 70 NY2d 817, 819).
Moreover, to the extent defendant's present claim relates to the
cumulative effect of additional references to the jury's task as a
search for the truth in connection with the instructions on the
credibility of witnesses, it is unpreserved for this Court's review,
no objection to the charge on that ground having been raised before
the trial court.
Nor, under the circumstances of this case, was it error for the trial
court to refuse to instruct the jury that mere presence at the scene
of the crime or association with the perpetrators is insufficient to
establish criminal liability, since no reasonable view of the evidence
supported such a charge. Moreover, defendant's concern that without
SNIPPETS:
THE PEOPLE &C., RESPONDENT, v. REUBEN SLACKS, APPELLANT.
This memorandum is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the New York
Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of felony murder, two counts of first degree
The indictment arose out of a robbery of two men in a parked car by defendant and other
His conviction having been affirmed by the Appellate Division, defendant argues before this
Reviewing this statement in the context of the jury instructions in their entirety, there is
Moreover, to the extent defendant's present claim relates to the cumulative effect of
Nor, under the circumstances of this case, was it error for the trial court to refuse to
Moreover, defendant's concern that without the requested charge the jury might have found him
Chief Judge Kaye and Judges Titone, Bellacosa, Smith, Levine, Ciparick and Wesley concur.
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