Opinion
2000-11651
Submitted May 13, 2002.
June 10, 2002.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Richmond County (Rooney, J.), rendered December 19, 2000, convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, grand larceny in the fourth degree, and criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (De Nice Powell of counsel), for appellant.
William L. Murphy, District Attorney, Staten Island, N Y (Karen F. McGee and Daniela Conti Maiorana of counsel), for respondent.
Before: ANITA R. FLORIO, J.P., CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN, DANIEL F. LUCIANO, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant's conviction arises from the theft of a handgun which his aunt kept locked in a box in her apartment. On appeal, he contends that the trial court improperly permitted a detective to testify that, following a conversation with the defendant's cousin, he sought out the defendant to place him under arrest. We agree that the court erred in admitting this testimony because it implied that the defendant's cousin, who was not called as a witness at trial, implicated the defendant in the theft of the gun (see People v. Martinez, 269 A.D.2d 608; People v. Elliott, 256 A.D.2d 418). However, the error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of the defendant's guilt, which included his confession (see People v. Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 230; People v. Elliott, supra).
The defendant's remaining contentions are unpreserved for appellate review and, in any event, without merit.
FLORIO, J.P., O'BRIEN, KRAUSMAN and LUCIANO, JJ., concur.