Summary
In People v. Pressley, 91 NY2d 825, 827 (1997), the Court of Appeals upheld a conviction where the People concededly "failed to provide a record of judgment of conviction...
Summary of this case from People v. BuariOpinion
Argued October 23, 1997
Decided November 20, 1997
APPEAL, by permission of an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department, entered December 30, 1996, which affirmed an order of the Oneida County Court (Patrick J. Cunningham, J.), denying a motion by defendant under CPL 440.10 to vacate a judgment of said court (John L. Murad, J.), rendered upon a verdict convicting defendant of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.
Defendant was convicted of fatally stabbing an acquaintance. At defendant's trial, a witness testified that defendant had confessed the details of the crime to him while they had been held together in the county jail.
The Appellate Division concluded that although the prosecutor failed to fulfill his obligation to turn over Brady material by failing to provide defendant with complete and accurate information concerning the criminal background of the jailhouse witness, the error is harmless, since there is no reasonable possibility that the error contributed to the verdict; that the testimony of the witness concerning alleged jailhouse admissions by defendant was relevant to the charge of intentional murder, of which defendant was acquitted, and that defendant was convicted of depraved indifference murder, of which there was overwhelming proof of guilt.
People v Pressley, 234 A.D.2d 954 (appeal No. 2), affirmed.
Frank J. Nebush, Jr., Public Defender of Oneida County, Utica ( Esther Cohen Lee of counsel), for appellant.
Michael A. Arcuri, District Attorney of Oneida County, Utica ( Timothy P. Fitzgerald of counsel), for respondent.
MEMORANDUM.
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.
Defendant appeals from an order of the Appellate Division which affirmed an order of County Court that denied defendant's motion under CPL 440.10 to set aside his conviction of murder in the second degree (Penal Law § 125.25) and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree (Penal Law § 265.01).
The People concede that they failed to provide a record of judgment of conviction of a witness called by the People at trial ( see, CPL 240.45 [b]). In addition, the People concede that the witness in question testified untruthfully about his criminal record during his direct examination. Upon our review of the record, which demonstrated overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt, we conclude that there is no reasonable possibility that either error contributed to the jury's verdict ( see, People v Steadman, 82 N.Y.2d 1, 9; People v Vilardi, 76 N.Y.2d 67, 77).
Chief Judge KAYE and Judges TITONE, BELLACOSA, SMITH, LEVINE, CIPARICK and WESLEY concur.
Order affirmed in a memorandum.