People v. Ortiz
Opinion of the Court
— Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Tsoucalas, J.), rendered November 24, 1981, convicting him of manslaughter in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Judgment affirmed.
Moreover, in view of his failure to request any specific charges, the defendant’s claims of prejudice with respect to the omission of an alibi charge and the alleged insufficiency of the charge concerning the voluntariness of his confession ring hollow. The voluntariness charge that was given provided an adequate general explanation of the applicable law; further, it is quite possible, given the weakness of the defendant’s alibi and the existence of the alternative defense of justification, that the failure to request an alibi charge was calculated trial strategy.
Finally, we do not consider the court’s imposition of the maximum sentence in this case to have been unduly harsh or excessive. Gibbons, J. P., Thompson, Niehoff and Rubin, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.