Citation Numbers: 28 A.D.2d 726
Filed Date: 6/26/1967
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/12/2022
No opinion. Beldock, P. J., Christ, Brennan and Benjamin, JJ., concur; Hopkins, J., dissents and votes to reverse the judgment and to order a new trial, with the following memorandum: Defendant was convicted of forgery in the second degree, grand larceny in the second degree and petit larceny. Specifically, it was charged that he had used a credit card, to which he had access as an employee of a corporation which was engaged in the business of issuing credit cards, and had forged the true holder’s signature in making ■ purchases at several department stores operated by E. J. Korvette and others. Defendant testified that at the time of the pur-chases he was working in the office of his employer miles distant from the site of the purchases; and that, on another occasion when it was claimed he had made a purchase, he and a friend delivered a present to defendant’s son. The friend testified, on behalf of defendant, to the delivery of the present at the time in question. Because of the distances between defendant’s office and the stores where the purchases were made, the necessary time that would be required in traveling those distances, and the lack of any proof that defendant’s signature appeared on the sales slips, the case against defendant was not strong. In this posture, the alibi evidence submitted by defendant was entitled to fair consideration by the jury. In my opinion, the jury could not give the evidence fair consideration undef the charge of the court. The court instructed the jury that “An alibi defense if clearly established by unsuspected believable testimony is the very best defense that an innocent