THE PEOPLE &C., RESPONDENT, v. WAYNE GREAVES, APPELLANT.

    94 N.Y.2d 775 (1999).
    October 14, 1999

   1 No. 156

   (99 NY Int. 0129)
   Decided October 14, 1999
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   This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication
   in the New York Reports.
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   Kannan Sundaram, for appellant.
   Edward L. Schnitzer, for respondent.

   MEMORANDUM:

   The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

   Defendant was convicted of robbery, reckless endangerment and criminal
   possession of a firearm. The issue onthis appeal by leave of a Judge
   of this Court is whether the trial court's refusal to instruct the
   jury that "the indictment is not evidence of anything" constitutes
   reversible error.

   We conclude that the omission in this case of this instruction does
   not constitute reversible error. We agree with the Appellate Division
   that, while the instruction should be given, defendant was not
   deprived of a fair trial, considering the court's instructions to the
   jury in their entirety. The absence from the final charge to the jury
   of the instruction that the indictment is not evidence -- which was
   given during jury selection -- does not warrant a reversal of the
   conviction in this case. In the whole context here, we also note that
   the trial court gave ample emphasis in the final jury charge that the
   jury's verdict must be based on an assessment only of the evidence --
   which the court summarized -- and that the defendant was always
   protected by the presumption of innocence.

   Carter v Kentucky (450 US 288) and Taylor v Kentucky (436 US
   478) are distinguishable and therefore do not compel a different
   result. Lastly, defendant's additional reliance on People v Newman
   (46 NY2d 126) is misplaced. There, this Court concluded that the
   trial court's refusal to inform the jury in its charge that the