People v. Bates

by defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County, rendered July 2, 1975, convicting him of burglary in the third degree and petit larceny, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment reversed, on the law and as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and new trial ordered. During the course of his summation, the prosecutor remarked: "if Mr. Bates [the defendant] has no involvement in this, where is the outcry of innocence?” Very shortly thereafter the prosecutor added: "And where is there any evidence that Thomas Bates told anybody that he was not involved…