People v. Cathey

Appeal by defendant from a judgment óf the Supreme Court, Queens County, rendered May 12, 1971, convicting him of murder, upon a jury verdict, and sentencing him to an indeterminate prison term of 20 years to life. Judgment reversed, on the law, and new trial granted. The findings of fact below are affirmed. Defendant’s conviction was for the stabbing death of a taxicab driver in Queens in January, 1970. The evidence linking him with the crime, which included proof of flight and an exculpatory statement, was circumstantial. While proof of flight, by itself, is weak evidence, it is probative…