Opinion
July 7, 1986
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Leahy, J.).
Judgment affirmed.
The hearing court properly denied that branch of the defendant's motion which was for a severance. His own extrajudicial admissions were sufficiently interlocking with the confessions made by his codefendants as to render negligible any resulting prejudice from improper consideration of their confessions (see, People v McNeil, 24 N.Y.2d 550, 552, cert denied sub nom. Spain v New York, 396 U.S. 937; People v Berzups, 49 N.Y.2d 417, 425). Moreover, since both of the codefendants took the stand at trial, the logic of Bruton v United States ( 391 U.S. 123) does not apply (cf. People v Safian, 46 N.Y.2d 181, 187, cert denied sub nom. Miner v New York, 443 U.S. 912).
A challenged in-court identification of the defendant by an eyewitness to the incident was properly admitted into evidence, since it was based upon her observations of the defendant made at the time of the incident (see, People v Ballott, 20 N.Y.2d 600, 606).
The testimony of a fellow inmate regarding the admissions that the defendant made to him with respect to his participation in the charged crimes, was properly admitted and entitled to belief, even though the witness was less than forthright about his own criminal record. Finally, the conduct of the prosecutor during the trial did not deprive the defendant of his right to a fair trial. Gibbons, J.P., Eiber, Kunzeman and Kooper, JJ., concur.