Opinion
Filed May 2, 2001.
Appeal from Judgment of Supreme Court, Onondaga County, Brunetti, J. — Burglary, 2nd Degree.
PRESENT: PIGOTT, JR., P.J., WISNER, SCUDDER, KEHOE AND BURNS, JJ.
Judgment unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum:
Defendant has failed to preserve for our review his contention that he was deprived of a fair trial by prosecutorial misconduct on summation ( see, CPL 470.05; People v. Brinson, 265 A.D.2d 879, lv denied 94 N.Y.2d 860). We note, however, that the prosecutor improperly expressed his personal opinion concerning defendant's guilt ( see, People v. LaCava, 75 A.D.2d 997) and referred to defendant as a "convicted criminal". We have repeatedly admonished prosecutors not to engage in such conduct. The prosecutor's conduct was "unseemly and unprofessional in the extreme" ( People v. Mott, 94 A.D.2d 415, 418; see, People v. Grice, 100 A.D.2d 419, 421) and does not comport with "the obligations of the sensitive role [that a prosecutor] plays" ( People v. Galloway, 54 N.Y.2d 396, 399; see, People v. Grice, supra, at 420). Although we do not condone the prosecutor's conduct, it cannot be said here that it "caused such substantial prejudice to the defendant that he has been denied due process of law" ( People v. Mott, supra, at 419). Contrary to the contention of defendant, the verdict finding him guilty of burglary in the second degree (Penal Law § 140.25) is not against the weight of the evidence ( see, People v. Bills, 278 A.D.2d 836; People v. Murray, 278 A.D.2d 898; see generally, People v. Bleakley, 69 N.Y.2d 490, 495).