People v. Owens

—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Orange County (Paño Z. Patsalos, J.), rendered May 19, 1998, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third 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 was arrested in a so-called “buy and bust” operation for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. At trial the court denied the defendant’s request to charge the jury on the…