Opinion
April 8, 1996
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Firetog, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant's constitutional right to be present at a material stage of the trial was not violated when, during a pretrial, in camera hearing in the presence of defense counsel but in the defendant's absence, the court questioned a potential witness about her own reluctance to testify at trial, and about her reluctance to allow her 12-year-old son to testify at trial ( see, People v. Morales, 80 N.Y.2d 450, 455; People v. Ross, 205 A.D.2d 645, 646; People v. Martinez, 204 A.D.2d 489; People v Harrison, 181 A.D.2d 743, 744). Sullivan, J.P., Pizzuto, Joy and Krausman, JJ., concur.