Opinion
Decided February 13, 1986
Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, Harold Baer, J.
Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney (Jeffrey Scott Sarokin of counsel), for appellant.
Steven J. Hyman for respondent.
On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.4 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 N.Y.CRR 500.4), order reversed and case remitted to the Appellate Division, First Department, for consideration of the facts (CPL 470.25 [d]; 470.40 [2] [b]). We agree with the dissenting Justices below ( 111 A.D.2d 87, 89-91) that any error of the prosecutor, in referring to his pretrial involvement in the case, was harmless (see, People v Paperno, 54 N.Y.2d 294; People v Ortiz, 54 N.Y.2d 288) and that the prosecutor's cross-examination of defendant's character witnesses was proper (see, People v Kuss, 32 N.Y.2d 436). There is no ground, therefore, for holding that defendant has been deprived of his fundamental right to a fair trial by the prosecutor's conduct.
Concur: Chief Judge WACHTLER and Judges MEYER, SIMONS, KAYE, ALEXANDER, TITONE and HANCOCK, JR.