People v. Autry

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

In People v Autry, People v Lara and People v Brown, the order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed. In People v Fehr, the order of the Appellate Division should be reversed.

Each of these four cases involves a claim by the defendant that the trial court’s instructions to the jurors concerning their duty to draw no adverse inference from the defendant’s failure to testify should have been confined to the bare words of the statute (CPL 300.10 [2]) requiring the court to give such a charge upon defense request, and that the more expansive charge delivered…