From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Celdo

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Feb 28, 2002
291 A.D.2d 357 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)

Opinion

362

February 28, 2002.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bruce Allen, J.), rendered August 27, 1998, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of sexual abuse in the first degree and endangering the welfare of a child, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 3 to 6 years and 1 year, respectively, unanimously affirmed.

Sheryl G. Feldman for respondent.

Julie Sender for defendant-appellant.

Before: Tom, J.P., Andrias, Saxe, Wallach, Rubin, JJ.


The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's mistrial motion made on the ground that the prosecutor's examination of the victim regarding her drawing of defendant's penis and the prosecutor's display of that drawing to the jury were conducted in a prejudicial manner, since the court's curative actions were sufficient to prevent any prejudice (see, People v. Santiago, 52 N.Y.2d 865). By failing to object, by making generalized objections, or by failing to request any further relief after objections were sustained, defendant has not preserved any of his other claims of prosecutorial misconduct and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would find no basis for reversal. In general, the prosecutor was acting properly within her role as an advocate, and none of the alleged misconduct prevented a fair trial (see, People v. Overlee, 236 A.D.2d 133, lv denied 91 N.Y.2d 976; People v. D'Alessandro, 184 A.D.2d 114, 118-119, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 884). Specifically, the allegedly inflammatory portions of the prosecutor's opening statement accurately described evidence that she intended to present, the use of some leading questions in direct examination of the six-year-old victim was reasonable in view of her age, the alleged disparagement of defense counsel on redirect examination of the victim's mother was responsive to the cross-examination, the prosecutor's handling of a situation involving a witness's false testimony did not cause any prejudice to defendant, the cross-examination of defendant was responsive to his claim that the victim and her family were lying, and the prosecutor's summation did not deprive defendant of a fair trial. We perceive no basis for a reduction of sentence.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.


Summaries of

People v. Celdo

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Feb 28, 2002
291 A.D.2d 357 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
Case details for

People v. Celdo

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT, v. SEGUNDO CELDO…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Feb 28, 2002

Citations

291 A.D.2d 357 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
739 N.Y.S.2d 25

Citing Cases

People v. Robinson

The defendant's contention that the Supreme Court should have granted a mistrial based on prosecutorial…

PEOPLE v. RAPP

The prosecutor's isolated and unobjected to comment in her opening statement urging the jury to convict…