People v. Baker

The defendant has been convicted of manslaughter in the second degree for causing the death of one Marvin Riddick on January 17, 1970. The central issue before us is whether the trial court properly ruled that there was a question of fact calling for the jury’s determination whether Robert Edward Gardner, the prosecution’s main witness, was an accomplice of the defendant or whether it should have ruled that Gardner was an accomplice as a matter of law. The defendant also claims that the trial court had no authority to amend the indictment and that the submission to the jury of the crime of…