Opinion
July 24, 1989
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Friedmann, J.).
Ordered that the judgment and the amended judgment are affirmed.
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the People (People v Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt of murder in the second degree beyond a reasonable doubt. Any rational trier of fact could have concluded that the objective circumstances surrounding the defendant's reckless conduct so elevated the gravity of the risk created as to evince the depraved indifference to human life necessary to sustain the murder conviction (see, People v Roe, 74 N.Y.2d 20; People v Register, 60 N.Y.2d 270).
Moreover, we find that the trial court's curtailment of inquiry into acts of violence committed by the defendant's family members on prior occasions was a proper exercise of its discretion to limit the admission of collateral evidence (see, People v Williams, 142 A.D.2d 310). Significantly, we note that the trial court's ruling did not exclude testimony as to the commission of the acts, but rather precluded excursion into the underlying details. Accordingly, the defendant suffered no prejudice from the court's ruling and the efficiency of the trial was not compromised. Mangano, J.P., Eiber, Sullivan and Balletta, JJ., concur.