People v. Diaz

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County, rendered, after trial to a jury, November 6, 1975, convicting defendant-appellant of murder, second degree, unanimously reversed, on the law, and the case remanded for a new trial. The record reflects colloquy between defense counsel and the court to the effect that the court intended to charge murder alone and refused to submit lesser included counts of manslaughter, first and second degrees, to the jury. Contrary to the prosecutor’s argument, the evidence did not unequivocally support murder as the sole possible verdict. "The test of whether a 'lesser…