People v. Lourido

OPINION OF THE COURT

Bellacosa, J.

A detective may not be permitted to testify that a person being investigated and queried about the commission of a crime, who was not shown to understand English, responded with a high shrug of the shoulders. Comment by the prosecutor in summation compounded the prejudicial inferences of guilt which the jury was allowed to draw from this gesture. Further, in a rape case where the accused and the *431victim knew one another and consent was in issue, it is reversible error to instruct the jury on both an original and an amended version of a statute prescribing the…