People v. Genyard

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Dutchess County (Dolan, J.), rendered November 9, 1995, convicting him of kidnapping in the first degree, murder in the second degree, and manslaughter in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.

The trial court improperly instructed the jury concerning the defendant’s status as an interested witness. The court improperly charged that the defendant had a “deep personal interest as a result of his prosecution”, that the “interest is of…