People v. Nere

This case presents question as to whether trial court properly instructed jury in instant trial on charge of drug-induced homicide that govt. must prove beyond reasonable doubt that defendant’s acts were “contributing cause of death” (as opposed to but for cause of death), where govt. had charged defendant with delivering heroin that caused victim’s death, and where record showed that defendant had given victim cocaine shortly before her death. Appellate Court found that while trial court should have followed Burrage, 134 S.Ct. 881, that disapproved “contributing cause” language in jury instruction, since jury could have based conviction on theory of causation that relied on level of proof that was less that proof beyond reasonable doubt, Appellate Court found that any error was harmless, where instruction focused jury on defendant’s delivery of heroin and not on her act of delivering cocaine, and where parties stressed that delivery of heroin was gravamen of instant charged offense, and that defendant could not be convicted based on delivery of cocaine.