On Sept. 12, the Appellate Division, Second Department, issued an opinion reversing the conviction of Lutchman Sookdeo on gang-related assault charges. A jury found him guilty in February 2017 on a number of offenses, and the appellate panel, for its part, said it found no reason to question the jury’s wisdom based on the evidence against Sookdeo.
A new trial was needed, the panel—composed of Associate Justices John Leventhal, Jeffrey Cohen, Sylvia Hinds-Radix and Angela Iannacci—said, because the judge who handled the case, Queens Supreme Court Justice Ronald Hollie, “conducted excessive and prejudicial questioning of trial witnesses.”
