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MAJORITY DEEMED THE DISMISSAL OF THE BB GUN POSSESSION CHARGE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE HANDGUN POSSESSION CHARGE TO THE JURY PROPER, STRONG DISSENT ARGUED THE DEFENDANT’S ADMISSION OF POSSESSION OF THE BB GUN TAINTED THE JURY’S CONSIDERATION OF THE MORE SERIOUS CHARGE (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a brief memorandum decision, over a comprehensive two-judge dissenting opinion by Judge Rivera, affirmed defendant’s conviction for unlawful possession of a weapon. Defendant was charged with possession of a BB gun and a handgun (Taurus). The judge dismissed the BB gun charge prior to submission of the handgun charge to the jury:

The trial court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing the non-inclusory charge of unlawful possession of an air pistol or rifle which related to the BB gun … . The jury was free to credit defendant’s theory that he possessed the BB gun but not the Taurus firearm that was also recovered in his vicinity — which was the subject of separate weapon possession counts. Contrary to defendant’s contention, his defense that he never possessed the Taurus firearm was not removed from consideration when the trial court dismissed the charge related to the BB gun, nor did defendant argue in the trial court that the dismissal of the BB gun count impaired his constitutional right to present a defense.

From the dissent:

The trial court abused its discretion when it did not submit the unlawful possession of an air pistol count to the jury and submitted instead only the more serious counts relating to the possession of a handgun. This error allowed the jury to consider highly prejudicial testimony completely irrelevant to the counts submitted, including defendant’s admission of guilt to the possession of the air pistol. So doing, the trial court encouraged reverse jury nullification and provoked confusion in the jury’s deliberative process.  People v Boyd, 2018 NY Slip Op 02120, CtApp 3-27-18

CRIMINAL LAW (MAJORITY DEEMED THE DISMISSAL OF THE BB GUN POSSESSION CHARGE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE HANDGUN POSSESSION CHARGE TO THE JURY PROPER, STRONG DISSENT ARGUED THE DEFENDANT’S ADMISSION OF POSSESSION OF THE BB GUN TAINTED THE JURY’S CONSIDERATION OF THE MORE SERIOUS CHARGE (CT APP))/JURIES (CRIMINAL LAW, JURY CONFUSION, (MAJORITY DEEMED THE DISMISSAL OF THE BB GUN POSSESSION CHARGE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE HANDGUN POSSESSION CHARGE TO THE JURY PROPER, STRONG DISSENT ARGUED THE DEFENDANT’S ADMISSION OF POSSESSION OF THE BB GUN TAINTED THE JURY’S CONSIDERATION OF THE MORE SERIOUS CHARGE (CT APP))/WEAPON, POSSESSION OF (CRIMINAL LAW, JURY CONFUSION, (MAJORITY DEEMED THE DISMISSAL OF THE BB GUN POSSESSION CHARGE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE HANDGUN POSSESSION CHARGE TO THE JURY PROPER, STRONG DISSENT ARGUED THE DEFENDANT’S ADMISSION OF POSSESSION OF THE BB GUN TAINTED THE JURY’S CONSIDERATION OF THE MORE SERIOUS CHARGE (CT APP))/BB GUN (CRIMINAL LAW, JURY CONFUSION, (MAJORITY DEEMED THE DISMISSAL OF THE BB GUN POSSESSION CHARGE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE HANDGUN POSSESSION CHARGE TO THE JURY PROPER, STRONG DISSENT ARGUED THE DEFENDANT’S ADMISSION OF POSSESSION OF THE BB GUN TAINTED THE JURY’S CONSIDERATION OF THE MORE SERIOUS CHARGE (CT APP))/HANDGUN (CRIMINAL LAW, JURY CONFUSION, (MAJORITY DEEMED THE DISMISSAL OF THE BB GUN POSSESSION CHARGE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE HANDGUN POSSESSION CHARGE TO THE JURY PROPER, STRONG DISSENT ARGUED THE DEFENDANT’S ADMISSION OF POSSESSION OF THE BB GUN TAINTED THE JURY’S CONSIDERATION OF THE MORE SERIOUS CHARGE (CT APP))

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