A judge’s acquiescence to a defendant who, against advice of counsel, opposed allowing the jury to consider a lesser offense, requires the conviction to be reversed, an upstate appellate court has found.
The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, said the decision to seek or reject a charge in a lesser-included offense is a tactical matter that shouldn’t have been left in the defendant’s hands. In People v. Brown, 07-01017, the court said Germaine Brown is entitled to a new trial on assault charges.
