People v. Glover, 57 N.Y.2d 61 (1982)
A defendant is entitled to a lesser included offense charge only if (1) it is theoretically impossible to commit the greater crime without also committing the lesser crime, and (2) a reasonable view of the evidence supports a finding that the defendant committed the lesser offense but not the greater.
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals clarified the two-pronged test for determining when a defendant is entitled to a jury instruction on a lesser included offense. The Court emphasized that the first prong requires a theoretical, abstract comparison of the statutory definitions of the crimes, not an examination of the specific facts of the case. The second prong requires that there be a reasonable view of the evidence in the particular case that would support a finding that the defendant committed the lesser offense but not the greater. In this case, the court found that it is theoretically possible to sell drugs without the intent to aid another person in committing a Class A felony. Therefore, the defendant was not entitled to a charge of criminal facilitation as a lesser included offense of criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Facts
The defendant was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree. At trial, the defendant requested that the court also charge the jury on criminal facilitation in the second degree as a lesser included offense.
Procedural History
The trial court denied the defendant’s request to charge the jury on criminal facilitation. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction. The Court of Appeals granted leave to appeal to consider whether the trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury on the lesser included offense.
Issue(s)
Whether the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s request to charge the jury on criminal facilitation in the second degree as a lesser included offense of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree.
Holding
No, because it is theoretically possible to commit the greater crime of criminal sale of a controlled substance without also committing the lesser crime of criminal facilitation.
Court’s Reasoning
The Court of Appeals articulated a two-pronged test for determining when a defendant is entitled to a lesser included offense charge. The first prong, derived from CPL 1.20(37), requires that it be “impossible to commit the greater crime without concomitantly, by the same conduct, committing the lesser offense.” This is determined by comparing the statutes in the abstract, without reference to the specific facts of the case. The second prong, prescribed by CPL 300.50(1), requires “an assessment of the evidence of the particular criminal transaction in the individual case and a determination that there is a reasonable view of such evidence which would support a finding that, while the defendant did commit the lesser offense, he did not commit the greater.”
The Court found that the defendant failed to satisfy the first prong. The Court reasoned that “it would be theoretically possible for a defendant illegally to sell a drug without intending to aid anyone else in the commission of a class A felony (as, for instance, when the criminal transaction involved only the defendant and an undercover police buyer).” Because the defendant could not satisfy the first prong of the test, the Court held that the trial court did not err in refusing to charge the jury on criminal facilitation.
The Court explicitly overruled prior cases like People v. Johnson, People v. Cionek, and People v. Hayes, “to the extent that our decisions…may be read as at variance with this application, they are no longer to be followed.” These cases had resolved the first inquiry by examining only the criminal transaction on which the particular prosecution was predicated.