From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Donati

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 28, 1991
169 A.D.2d 837 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991)

Opinion

January 28, 1991

Appeal from the County Court, Westchester County (Kepner, J.).


Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The evidence presented at trial establishes that on September 27, 1983, the defendant, Steven Donati, Sr., and his son, the codefendant Steven Donati, Jr., acting in concert, physically attacked and seriously injured the victim. During the course of this assault, the elder Donati repeatedly punched and kicked the victim, and the younger Donati, in addition to doing likewise, stabbed the victim in the stomach with a folding knife. The younger Donati, at his father's behest, then took $10 from the victim.

The complaining witness, upon whose testimony the prosecution's case was principally based, was subjected to extensive cross-examination with respect to his criminal and psychiatric history. Even if we were to assume that the trial court improvidently exercised its discretion in limiting the scope of this cross-examination by precluding inquiry into certain of this witness' prior bad acts (cf., People v Thomas, 141 A.D.2d 782 [no improvident exercise of discretion for court to preclude cross-examination as to prosecution witness's prior harassment conviction]), we would conclude that there is no significant probability that any such improvident exercise of discretion affected the jury's verdict. Further, the trial court properly exercised its discretion with respect to its rulings concerning the admissibility of this witness's psychiatric records. Since the jury was made fully aware of the witness's mental history, any error in this respect would also clearly have been harmless.

We have examined the defendant's remaining contentions, and find them to be without merit (see, People v Donati, 169 A.D.2d 837 [decided herewith]). Bracken, J.P., Brown, Kunzeman and Harwood, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Donati

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 28, 1991
169 A.D.2d 837 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991)
Case details for

People v. Donati

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. STEVEN DONATI, SR.…

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

Date published: Jan 28, 1991

Citations

169 A.D.2d 837 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991)
565 N.Y.S.2d 207

Citing Cases

People v. Donati

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed. The defendant argues, as did his father and codefendant (see, People v…