People v. Francis

*907The trial court instructed the jury with respect to alibi testimony that such evidence “should be most carefully scrutinized” and went further to state that defendant was “not required to prove an alibi beyond a reasonable doubt” but the jury must be satisfied that when he gave that testimony he was telling the truth. This language suggested to the jury that defendant bore some burden of proof regarding the alibi defense, which is clearly improper (People v Victor, 62 NY2d 374).

While we do not find that the error was preserved for review as a matter of law (see, People v Hoke, 62 NY2d 1022),…