A jury verdict convicting a defendant of manslaughter as a hate crime, but acquitting him of plain manslaughter, was legally inconsistent and cannot stand, a divided Appellate Division, Fourth Department, panel held in a high-profile case from Syracuse.
The majority said that since all of the elements of basic first-degree manslaughter are included in first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime—which has the added element of animus—a not guilty verdict on the former precludes a guilty verdict on the latter.
