Opinion
2014–08652 Ind. No. 6063/11
12-30-2020
The PEOPLE, etc., respondent, v. Stephen SALES, appellant.
Paul Skip Laisure, New York, N.Y. (Meredith S. Holt of counsel), for appellant. Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Jean M. Joyce, and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP [Mary Beth Picarella ] of counsel), for respondent.
Paul Skip Laisure, New York, N.Y. (Meredith S. Holt of counsel), for appellant.
Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Jean M. Joyce, and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP [Mary Beth Picarella ] of counsel), for respondent.
LEONARD B. AUSTIN, J.P., SYLVIA O. HINDS–RADIX, FRANCESCA E. CONNOLLY, VALERIE BRATHWAITE NELSON, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Albert Tomei, J.), rendered September 9, 2014, convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant's contention that he was deprived of his right to a fair trial by the improper admission into evidence of excerpts of recorded telephone calls he made during his detention at Rikers Island Correctional Facility is without merit. Any ambiguity as to the defendant's intended meaning of his statements affected only the weight to be given to the recordings, not their admissibility (see People v. Moore, 118 A.D.3d 916, 918, 988 N.Y.S.2d 80 ; People v. Case, 113 A.D.3d 872, 873, 979 N.Y.S.2d 383 ). We agree with the Supreme Court's determination that the probative value of these excerpts outweighed their potential for prejudice (see Moore, 118 A.D.3d at 918, 988 N.Y.S.2d 80 ).
The defendant's sentence was not excessive (see People v. Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80, 83, 455 N.Y.S.2d 675 ).
AUSTIN, J.P., HINDS–RADIX, CONNOLLY and BRATHWAITE NELSON, JJ., concur.