A former correction officer who was convicted of smuggling a knife to her inmate boyfriend in a shoebox is entitled to a new trial because the prosecutor was allowed to introduce "irrelevant and inflammatory considerations" about her boyfriend’s criminal record, a divided state appellate panel has ruled.
The trial court’s errors "served to deprive defendant of her fundamental right to a fair trial and require reversal of the judgment," a three-judge majority of the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in People v. Bartholomew, 41/08. Justices Karla Moskowitz (See Profile), Helen Freedman (See Profile) and Sallie Manzanet-Daniels (See Profile) joined the unsigned majority opinion.