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People v. Chessman

54 N.Y.2d 1016 Court N.Y. Decision date 1981-10-29 English

Contents

Majority

p. 1016
The People of the State of New York, Appellant, v Charles Chessman, Respondent.
Argued October 14, 1981;
decided October 29, 1981
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Denis Dillon, District Attorney (Martin I. Saperstein and William C. Donnino of counsel), for appellant.
p. 1017
Michael J. Obus and Matthew Muraskin for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The appeal should be dismissed.

The Appellate Division (p 195), after stating its primary reason for reversal, said: “this error was further compounded by the court’s total failure * * * to marshal the evidence”. In view of the fact that this latter point had not been preserved for review, the court’s determination was necessarily predicated at least in part upon an exercise of discretion and thus is not appealable to this court (see People v Dercole, 52 NY2d 956 ; 957; People v Johnson, 47 NY2d 124 , 126). This is so despite the fact that the primary basis for the Appellate Division reversal relating to the charge concerning intent was properly preserved for review.

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur.

Appeal dismissed in a memorandum.

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