People v. Ross

Judgment unanimously reversed on the law and new trial granted. Memorandum: Because the court charged that the People relied on both direct and circumstantial evidence, without specifically instructing to which charge each type of evidence applied, the jury could not have known of its duty to apply the circumstantial evidence standard to a substantial portion of the prosecution’s case (see, People v Sanchez, 61 NY2d 1022, 1023). Moreover, with respect to the charges of burglary, larceny and criminal mischief, the circumstantial evidence charge given by the trial court was inadequate because…