People v. Branton

— Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County, rendered July 12, 1977, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment reversed, on the law, indictment dismissed and case remitted to the County Court, Nassau County, for the purpose of entering an order in its discretion pursuant to CPL 160.50. There was no competent evidence that the substance sold by defendant was heroin. Although the police chemist gave an expert opinion that the substance he had tested was heroin, his opinion…