People v. Ellis

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Franklin R. Weissberg, J.), rendered July 7, 1988, convicting defendant, upon a jury verdict, of grand larceny in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a predicate felon, to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of from two to four years, unanimously reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.

We agree with defendant that the court’s erroneous instruction on the entrapment defense, in addition to the improper comments of the prosecutor during summation, deprived him of a fair trial. Accordingly, a new trial is ordered.

In instructing the jury…