Opinion
November 9, 1989
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (John Bradley, J.).
There is no merit to defendant's unpreserved claim that the prosecutor's summation constituted prosecutorial misconduct. Although the prosecutor argued that in order to believe defendant's testimony the jury had to conclude that the People's witnesses had deliberately lied and committed perjury, the argument was, to a large extent, responsive to the arguments made on summation by the defense. (People v Marks, 6 N.Y.2d 67, cert denied 362 U.S. 912.) In any event, any error which may have resulted was harmless in view of the overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt. (People v Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 230.) Further, there was no violation of People v Trowbridge ( 305 N.Y. 471) simply because the officer testified that he chased after defendant upon statements from nonwitnesses to "get him". The statements attributed to the nonwitnesses served only as a predicate for subsequent police conduct and were not used to bolster the identification testimony of the shooting victims, who knew defendant from prior occasions.
Defendant's remaining arguments have been considered and are without merit.
Concur — Murphy, P.J., Milonas, Ellerin, Wallach and Rubin, JJ.