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People v. Smith

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 8, 2002
294 A.D.2d 381 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)

Opinion

1999-06198

Argued April 19, 2002.

May 8, 2002.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (F. Rivera, J.), rendered June 30, 1999, convicting him of murder in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Joshua M. Levine of counsel), for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Michael Gore, and Clifford Chance Rogers and Wells, LLP [Jeffrey H. Drichta and Timothy J. Cornell] of counsel), for respondent (one brief filed).

Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Joshua M. Levine of counsel), for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Michael Gore, and Clifford Chance Rogers and Wells, LLP [Jeffrey H. Drichta and Timothy J. Cornell] of counsel), for respondent (one brief filed).

Before: FEUERSTEIN, J.P., O'BRIEN, ADAMS, COZIER, JJ.


ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's claims that the prosecutor improperly used a witness's prior Grand Jury testimony to refresh his recollection, and that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that it could consider such testimony for credibility purposes, are unpreserved for appellate review (see CPL 470.05). In any event, the prosecutor properly used the witness's Grand Jury testimony to refresh his recollection (see CPL 60.35; People v. Reed, 40 N.Y.2d 204).

The prosecutor's comments during summation do not require reversal because they were, for the most part, a fair comment on the evidence and were responsive to the defense counsel's summation (see People v. Conethan, 120 A.D.2d 604). Further, to the extent that the prosecutor's comments exceeded proper bounds, the trial court provided timely curative instructions to ameliorate any potential prejudice that might have resulted (see People v. Scotti, 220 A.D.2d 543).

FEUERSTEIN, J.P., O'BRIEN, ADAMS and COZIER, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Smith

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 8, 2002
294 A.D.2d 381 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
Case details for

People v. Smith

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., respondent, v. DEMETRIUS SMITH, appellant

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: May 8, 2002

Citations

294 A.D.2d 381 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
741 N.Y.S.2d 891

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