Opinion
May 20, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Demakos, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
None of the defendant's contentions on appeal alleging improper cross-examination have been preserved for appellate review, since he either failed to object to them, objected solely to the form of the questions, or had his objections sustained by the trial court (see, People v Bynum, 70 N.Y.2d 858; People v Liccione, 50 N.Y.2d 850; People v Arrington, 158 A.D.2d 461). In any event, the defendant's contentions are without merit.
The prosecutor's use of a letter from the defendant's employer to refresh his recollection was not error, since the letter was not admitted into evidence to prove a collateral matter (see, People v Sellan, 143 A.D.2d 690; People v Angrum, 137 A.D.2d 539). In addition, it was within the trial court's discretion to permit the defendant to be cross-examined on his illegal presence in the United States. A defendant who chooses to testify may properly be cross-examined on any "illegal, immoral, or vicious" act of his life (see, People v Sandoval, 34 N.Y.2d 371, 374). Further, the cross-examination relating to the defendant's activities as a lecturer for his religious organization was also not improper since this issue was raised during the defendant's direct examination and the prosecutor's questions were directed at the defendant's age and experience and did not impugn the religious beliefs or practices of the defendant or his church (cf., People v Forchalle, 88 A.D.2d 645).
The defendant's contention that the court failed to give a sufficient charge on reasonable doubt is also unpreserved for appellate review, and, in any event, without merit. The charge given by the trial court satisfied the minimum requirements for such an instruction (cf., People v Sanders, 69 N.Y.2d 860; People v Newman, 46 N.Y.2d 126). Kunzeman, J.P., Sullivan, Lawrence and O'Brien, JJ., concur.