Opinion
No. 3332.
October 12, 2010.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bruce Allen, J.), rendered July 30, 2008, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth and seventh degrees, and sentencing him, as a second felony drug offender whose prior felony conviction was a violent felony, to an aggregate term of 2 ½ years, unanimously affirmed.
Richard M. Greenberg, Office of The Appellate Defender, New York (Christopher G. Froelich of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Sean T. Masson of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Sweeny, Moskowitz, Acosta and Román, JJ.
The People's summation did not deprive defendant of a fair trial. The remarks challenged by defendant generally constituted evidence-based arguments as to why the jury should credit the testimony of the prosecution witnesses and discredit that of defendant; these arguments were responsive to the defense summation and did not shift the burden of proof ( see People v Dais, 47 AD3d 421, 422, lv denied 10 NY3d 809; People v Overlee, 236 AD2d 133, 144, lv denied 91 NY2d 976).
The People established a sufficient chain of custody for the drugs seized from defendant, providing reasonable assurances of their identity and substantially unchanged condition ( see People v Julian, 41 NY2d 340). Any deficiencies in the chain of custody went to the weight and not the admissibility of the evidence ( see People v White, 40 NY2d 797, 799-800).