PEOPLE v. HARRELL

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Timothy HARRELL, also known as Tim Herrera, Defendant-Appellant.

Decided: September 25, 2008

TOM, J.P., MAZZARELLI, FRIEDMAN, WILLIAMS, MOSKOWITZ, JJ. Richard M. Greenberg, Office of the Appellate Defender, New York (Joseph M. Nursey of counsel), and Heller Ehrman LLP, New York and Bingham McCutchen, LLP, New York (Todd M. Beaton, Jr. of counsel), for appellant. Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Britta Gilmore of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Eduardo Padro, J.), rendered October 3, 2006, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender whose prior felony conviction was a violent felony, to a term of 6 years, unanimously reversed, on the law, and the matter remanded for a new trial.

In People v. De Los Santos, 50 A.D.3d 455, 854 N.Y.S.2d 647 [2008], this Court reversed the codefendant's conviction on the ground that the trial court improperly denied a challenge for cause to a prospective juror who had expressed doubt about his ability to be impartial.   We see no reason to reach a different result with regard to defendant, who was similarly situated to the codefendant in all respects.   We find it unnecessary to reach any other issue.