Opinion
December 18, 1987
Appeal from the Monroe County Court, Celli, J.
Present — Dillon, P.J., Callahan, Denman, Pine and Balio, JJ.
Judgment unanimously affirmed. Memorandum: The prosecution's attempt to present evidence to bolster the victim's identification testimony was impermissible (see, People v Cioffi, 1 N.Y.2d 70, 73; People v Trowbridge, 305 N.Y. 471). Nevertheless, it was not error for the court to deny defendant's motion for a mistrial. Whether to grant a mistrial is entrusted to the discretion of the trial court (People v Ortiz, 54 N.Y.2d 288, 292), and the court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion but instead giving prompt and forceful curative instructions. This isolated incident did not amount to prosecutorial misconduct and, in view of the compelling identification testimony and the overwhelming evidence of guilt, the error was harmless (see, People v Johnson, 57 N.Y.2d 969, 970-971).
We have considered defendant's other contentions and find them lacking in merit.