People v. Robinson

In People v. Robinson (145 AD2d 184, 538 NYS2d 122 [4th Dept 1989], affd 75 NY2d 879, 553 NE2d 1021, 554 NYS2d 473 [1990]), the Appellate Division reversed a defendant's conviction for intentional manslaughter, submitted to the jury as a lesser included offense of intentional murder, because the judge failed to submit counts of intentional murder and depraved indifference murder to the jury in the alternative as mandated by Gallagher. The Court affirmed "for the reasons stated in" the Appellate Division's opinion (Robinson, 75 NY2d at 881), which includes dictum plausibly understood to mean that a defendant cannot be convicted of charges requiring different mental states, even as to different results--that is, the infliction of serious physical injury in the case of first-degree manslaughter and death in the case of depraved indifference murder (see Sweet v. Bennett, 353 F3d 135, 143-148 [2d Cir 2003, Walker, J., concurring]).