People v. Farnsworth — 65 N.Y. 734

Majority

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The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Bryan Farnsworth, Appellant.

Decided June 6, 1985

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APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL

Edward J. Nowak, Public Defender (Howard K. Broder of counsel), for appellant.

Howard R. Relin, District Attorney (Wendy Evans Lehmann of counsel), for respondent.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed and a new trial ordered.

A reversal is mandated by the trial court’s denial of defendant’s request for a charge on intoxication. Where the issue on appeal is whether a particular theory of defense should have been charged to the jury, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant (People v Padgett, 60 NY2d 142 , 144; People v Watts, 57 NY2d 299 , 301; People v Torre, 42 NY2d 1036 ,1037; People v Steele, 26 NY2d 526 , 529). Here, the appearance and conduct of defendant when he was arrested, which are described in the dissenting memorandum of Justice

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Samuel Green (106 AD2d, at pp 880-882), constituted sufficient evidence to warrant a charge on intoxication at defendant’s trial.

Chief Judge Wachtler and Judges Jasen, Meyer, Simons, Kaye, Alexander and Titone concur in memorandum.

On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.4 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.4), order reversed, etc.

Cases cited

People v. Padgett 60 NY2d 142 N.Y. 1983-10-25 at 144 p. 735
People v. Watts 57 NY2d 299 N.Y. 1982-11-16 at 301 p. 735
People v. Torre 42 NY2d 1036 N.Y. 1977-10-06 at 1037 p. 735
People v. Steele 26 NY2d 526 N.Y. 1970-05-28 at 529 p. 735