Opinion
July 8, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Beerman, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
Contrary to the defendant's contention, he was not deprived of a fair trial by the prosecutor's cross-examination of him, or by the prosecutor's summation, both of which noted that the store where the defendant was employed was owned by persons from the Dominican Republic. While references to race or national origin should be avoided unless relevant to a matter at issue, the prosecutor's references to national origin were not numerous, nor did they urge the jury to judge the credibility of the witnesses based upon that national origin (cf., People v Thomas, 129 A.D.2d 596; People v Pascullo, 120 A.D.2d 687). Under the circumstances, any error was harmless.
The sentence imposed was not excessive. Kunzeman, J.P., Sullivan, Harwood and Rosenblatt, JJ., concur.