New York Court of Appeals October 20, 2011 (People v. Muhammad)

Ciparick, J.

(dissenting). When an acquittal of one crime, as charged, negates the existence of an essential element of another crime, as charged, for which a defendant has been convicted, the conviction must be set aside. This is the lesson from People v Tucker (55 NY2d 1 [1981]), wherein we enunciated a standard for determining whether a jury verdict is legally repugnant.