Opinion
1025
May 9, 2002.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael Obus, J.), rendered October 16, 1998, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4½ to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.
David Aaron, for respondent.
Peter H. Dailey, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Nardelli, J.P., Sullivan, Wallach, Rubin, Friedman, JJ.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. There is no basis upon which to disturb the jury's determinations concerning credibility. The evidence established that defendant, sharing dominion and control with his codefendant, constructively possessed all of the drugs recovered from what was clearly a drug factory (see, People v. Bundy, 90 N.Y.2d 918;People v. Eustate, 265 A.D.2d 229 lv denied 94 N.Y.2d 919). In addition to the constructive possession theory, the statutory presumption (Penal Law § 220.25) was properly applied to the portion of the drugs that was in plain view. Defendant's claim that the court's charge did not sufficiently distinguish between these two theories, as applicable to the evidence, is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. Were we to review this claim, we would find it to be unsupported by the record.
The court's Sandoval ruling balanced the appropriate factors and was a proper exercise of discretion (see, People v. Walker, 83 N.Y.2d 455, 458-459).
The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's mistrial motion based on his complaint that a comment during the prosecutor's summation, to which the court had sustained an objection, impermissibly shifted the burden of proof. The prosecutor's isolated comment, in context, was responsive to the defense summation and did not refer to defendant's post-arrest silence (see, People v. Overlee, 236 A.D.2d 133, lv denied 91 N.Y.2d 976; People v. D'Alessandro, 184 A.D.2d 114, 118-119, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 884). In any event, in addition to sustaining the objection, the court's charge on the presumption of innocence and burden of proof was sufficient to prevent any prejudice.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.