People v. Andujar

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County, dated May 17, 1976, convicting defendant of the crime of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree (Penal Law, § 220.41), and sentencing him to a term of six years to life imprisonment, is unanimously reversed, on the law, and a new trial directed. Defendant was charged with the sale of heroin to an undercover officer in defendant’s grocery store on January 22, 1975. Defendant took the stand and on his direct examination testified that he had never possessed or used heroin and, implicitly, that he had never sold any. In rebuttal,…