People v. Rodriguez

McGuire, J. (dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. With respect to the counts of second-degree manslaughter and assault, the court’s refusal to charge the choice-of-evils defense pursuant to Penal Law § 35.05 (2) was correct. With respect to the lesser crimes of which defendant was convicted, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and offenses that have as an element the operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated, any error in refusing to give the charge was inconsequential.

Two starkly different versions of what happened on Mt. Eden Avenue in the Bronx on the afternoon of August 1,…