People v. Sanders

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed and a new trial ordered.

Defendant was convicted after a jury trial of several charges including attempted murder and robbery stemming from the holdup of a numbers parlor in Brooklyn. In its charge to the jury the court failed to explain the essential elements of the several charges. Nor did it instruct the jury that the prosecution had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the offenses charged. Instead, the court after posing the rhetorical question, "Now, what do the People have…