Opinion
12151 Ind. No. 3975/14 Case No. 2017–2875
10-22-2020
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Bryan ROGERS, Defendant–Appellant.
Janet E. Sabel, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Allen Fallek of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Susan Axelrod of counsel), for respondent.
Janet E. Sabel, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Allen Fallek of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Susan Axelrod of counsel), for respondent.
Friedman, J.P., Kern, Scarpulla, Shulman, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (A. Kirke Bartley, Jr., J.), rendered January 4, 2017, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 25 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007] ). There is no basis for disturbing the jury's credibility determinations, including its resolution of alleged inconsistencies in testimony.
The court providently exercised its discretion in permitting the People to introduce limited rebuttal testimony from several witnesses, even if some of the evidence "was not technically of a rebuttal nature but more properly a part of the offering party's direct case" ( CPL 260.30[7] ; People v. Harris, 57 N.Y.2d 335, 345, 456 N.Y.S.2d 694, 442 N.E.2d 1205 [1982], cert denied 460 U.S. 1047, 103 S.Ct. 1448, 75 L.Ed.2d 803 [1983] ). This evidence was responsive to issues raised on defendant's case (see e. g. People v. Davis, 298 A.D.2d 286, 748 N.Y.S.2d 488 [1st Dept. 2002], lv denied 99 N.Y.2d 557 2002, 754 N.Y.S.2d 209, 784 N.E.2d 82 ]. In any event, defendant was not unduly prejudiced by any of the rebuttal testimony.