Opinion
March 15, 1971
Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Westchester County, rendered September 9, 1968, convicting him, inter alia, of murder in the second degree and arson in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment reversed, on the law and in the interests of justice, and new trial ordered. In our view, the trial court committed reversible error in its charge to the jury on the law of voluntary intoxication and insanity. It appears that the court confused the two defenses and charged that self-induced intoxication would not absolve defendant from criminal responsibility even if such intoxication had risen to, or triggered, a state of mania. This is not the law ( People v. Borrero, 19 N.Y.2d 332; People v. Pekarz, 185 N.Y. 470; People v. Eastwood, 14 N.Y. 562, 565; cf. People v. Adams, 26 N.Y.2d 129; People v. Schompert, 19 N.Y.2d 300). Hopkins, Acting P.J., Munder, Christ, Brennan and Benjamin, JJ., concur.