Opinion
2001-03536
Argued June 10, 2003.
August 25, 2003.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Brennan, J.), rendered April 5, 2001, convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Tonya Plank of counsel), for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Seth M. Lieberman, and Adrienne Lloyd of counsel), for respondent.
Before: A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J., MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, NANCY E. SMITH, THOMAS A. ADAMS, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
It is well settled that a trial court is not precluded from supplying hypothetical examples in its jury instructions to assist the jury in understanding the applicable law ( see People v. Johnson, 255 A.D.2d 337; People v. Wise, 204 A.D.2d 133). However, the hypotheticals must be fair and balanced, must not indicate to the jury that the trial court has an opinion as to the defendant's guilt or innocence, and must not present factual patterns that are strikingly similar to the defendant's case ( see People v. Hommel, 41 N.Y.2d 427; People v. Johnson, supra at 337; People v. Calix, 236 A.D.2d 550). Contrary to the defendant's contention, in this case the trial court's hypothetical example and commentary were proper.
PRUDENTI, P.J., ALTMAN, SMITH and ADAMS, JJ., concur.