Opinion
August 31, 1987
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Sherman, J.).
Ordered that the judgments are affirmed.
Two separate robberies were considered at the defendant's trial. Each of the two victims of the first robbery, which took 5 to 8 minutes to complete, observed the defendant under good lighting conditions. One observed him at close range for a few seconds. The other engaged in a face-to-face struggle with him. The victim of the second robbery, held at gunpoint in daylight, also had ample opportunity to observe the defendant.
The defendant's counsel opened the door to redirect testimony by one of the victims concerning her identification of the defendant from photographs by cross-examining her on that subject (see, People v. Giallombardo, 128 A.D.2d 547). It was, however, improper thereafter to permit testimony by a police officer concerning identification of the defendant from photographs by this victim and her covictim (People v. Grate, 122 A.D.2d 853, lv denied 68 N.Y.2d 1000; People v. Trowbridge, 305 N.Y. 471). Moreover, the officer's testimony concerning the circumstances surrounding the lineup could have been interpreted by the jury as an unofficial confirmation of the identifications of the defendant (cf., People v. Grate, supra; but see, People v. Lopez , 123 A.D.2d 360 , lv denied 68 N.Y.2d 915). In view of the clear and strong identification testimony, however, and the lack of probability that the jury would have acquitted the defendant in the absence of the improper testimony (see, People v. Mobley, 56 N.Y.2d 584; People v. Price, 120 A.D.2d 690), these "bolstering" errors were harmless.
We have considered the defendant's remaining contentions and find them to be either without merit or unpreserved for our review (see, People v. Price, supra). Mangano, J.P., Niehoff, Sullivan and Harwood, JJ., concur.