Opinion
2018-15153 Ind. 1311/17
06-23-2021
The People, etc., respondent, v. Robert Skinner, appellant.
Martin Geoffrey Goldberg, Franklin Square, NY, for appellant. Joyce Smith, Acting District Attorney, Mineola, NY (Tammy J. Smiley and Andrew Fukuda of counsel), for respondent.
Submitted - June 7, 2021
D66847 M/afa
Martin Geoffrey Goldberg, Franklin Square, NY, for appellant.
Joyce Smith, Acting District Attorney, Mineola, NY (Tammy J. Smiley and Andrew Fukuda of counsel), for respondent.
CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, J.P. VALERIE BRATHWAITE NELSON LINDA CHRISTOPHER JOSEPH A. ZAYAS, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Fran Ricigliano, J.), rendered November 20, 2018, convicting him of assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
The Supreme Court's Sandoval ruling (see People v Sandoval, 34 N.Y.2d 371) was not an improvident exercise of discretion. The record shows that the court engaged in the requisite balancing of the probative value against the prejudicial effect, and reached an appropriate compromise ruling (see People v Cagan, 185 A.D.3d 836, 837). The ruling, which allowed the prosecutor to question the defendant, should he chose to testify, regarding 4 prior convictions, relating to 4 separate criminal transactions, from a lengthy criminal history comprising 15 convictions, and did not permit the prosecutor to inquire about the facts underlying those convictions, struck a proper balance (see id. at 837-838). The fact that one of the prior convictions was attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, which was similar to one of the crimes charged in this action, did not preclude inquiry into the prior conviction (see People v Avila, 69 A.D.3d 642, 642).
CHAMBERS, J.P., BRATHWAITE NELSON, CHRISTOPHER and ZAYAS, JJ., concur.