People v. Irby

Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Suffolk County, rendered September 18, 1978, convicting him of assault in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment reversed, on the law, and new trial ordered. Defendant contends that the trial court erroneously permitted the prosecution to cross-examine him concerning a prior assault conviction, involving the stabbing of another individual two years earlier. Initially, at a Sandoval hearing, the prosecution was precluded from using the prior assault conviction. But, after the defendant testified that the…