Opinion
April 23, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Jerome Hornblass, J.).
The adverse inference charge given by the court was an appropriate exercise of discretion and provided an adequate sanction rectifying any harm caused by the People's failure to preserve the necklaces that were allegedly damaged when defendant forcibly pulled them off of the undercover officer's neck ( see, People v. Kelly, 62 N.Y.2d 516; People v. Gibbs, 207 A.D.2d 288, affd 85 N.Y.2d 899). In any event, any error by the court in refusing to impose a more drastic sanction would be harmless in view of the overwhelming evidence of a forcible taking.
Concur — Lerner, P.J., Nardelli, Wallach, Williams and Saxe, JJ.