Opinion
September 30, 1997
Appeal from the Oneida County Court, Buckley, J.
Present — Green, J.P., Pine, Wisner, Balio and Fallon, JJ.
Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of rape in the first degree and five counts of sodomy in the first degree, stemming from the sexual abuse of his children. He contends that his global retrograde amnesia precluded him from remembering any of the incidents underlying the charges and that County Court did not follow the required procedures in determining that he received a fair trial ( see, People v. Francabandera, 33 N.Y.2d 429, 433, citing Wilson v. United States, 391 F.2d 460). We disagree. Upon our review of the record, we conclude that the court properly considered all the circumstances, and we conclude that defendant received a fair trial ( see, People v. Wright, 105 A.D.2d 1088).
We reject defendant's contention that the court erred in limiting the cross-examination of defendant's eldest son concerning a prior bad act and in denying defendant's motion to strike the son's testimony after the son had invoked the Fifth Amendment. The court did not abuse its discretion in limiting the cross-examination of defendant's son ( see, People v. Duffy, 36 N.Y.2d 258, 262-263, mot to amend remittitur granted 36 N.Y.2d 857, cert denied 423 U.S. 861), nor was defendant prejudiced thereby ( see, People v. Chin, 67 N.Y.2d 22, 29, quoting United States v Brown, 634 F.2d 819, 825-826, reh denied 640 F.2d 385).
Finally, upon our review of the record, we conclude that the sentence is neither unduly harsh nor severe.