Opinion
October 13, 1994
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Joseph Cerbone, J.).
Contrary to defendant's argument, the instruction that a reasonable doubt "is a doubt for which a juror could give a reason if he or she were called upon to do so in the jury room" and one for which a juror "should be in a position to furnish the reason" to his or her fellow jurors if they asked, did not improperly impose upon the jurors a duty to articulate the reasons for their doubt, but merely "`defined the required degree of clarity and coherence of thought, focusing on the jurors' intellectual effort'" (People v. Robinson, 204 A.D.2d 129, quoting People v. Brin, 190 A.D.2d 512, lv denied 82 N.Y.2d 751).
Defendant's claim that reversible error occurred when prospective jurors were questioned in his absence in these March 1992 proceedings is without merit (People v. Sprowal, 84 N.Y.2d 113).
We have considered defendant's other contentions and find them to be without merit.
Concur — Wallach, J.P., Kupferman, Ross, Nardelli and Williams, JJ.