People v. Lovelace

—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (D’Emic, J.), rendered June 1, 1998, convicting him of murder in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.

The defendant killed his stepfather and, at trial, asserted a justification defense. The defendant, his mother, and his stepbrother had all been physically abused by the deceased and, for several years, the family had been in counseling with a social worker. The social worker and the defendant’s expert, a…