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People v. Williams

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 27, 2003
305 A.D.2d 703 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)

Opinion

2000-02160

Submitted May 1, 2003.

May 27, 2003.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Chambers, J.), rendered March 2, 2000, convicting him of robbery in the first degree and robbery in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Jack D. Jordan of counsel), for appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Jodi L. Mandel, and Christine A. Pepe of counsel), for respondent.

Before: ANITA R. FLORIO, J.P., SANDRA J. FEUERSTEIN, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, STEPHEN G. CRANE, JJ.


DECISION ORDER

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant contends that prosecutor's remarks on summation constituted reversible error. The defendant's arguments concerning most of the remarks were not preserved for appellate review because the defendant either failed to object to the prosecutor's statements, made only general objections, or moved belatedly for a mistrial (see CPL 470.05; People v. Dien, 77 N.Y.2d 885; People v. Balls, 69 N.Y.2d 641, 642; People v. Morris, 148 A.D.2d 552).

In any event, the defendant's contentions are without merit. While some of the challenged remarks were questionable, they did not exceed the broad bounds of rhetorical comment allowed in closing argument (see People v. Galloway, 54 N.Y.2d 396). Moreover, the isolated racial remark by the prosecutor, while clearly inappropriate, did not constitute the type of thematic reference to race to warrant reversal (see People v. Dominguez, 275 A.D.2d 468, 469; People v. Ali, 158 A.D.2d 460; People v. Rivera, 136 A.D.2d 520, affd 73 N.Y.2d 941; cf. People v. Alexander, 94 N.Y.2d 382, 385).

FLORIO, J.P., FEUERSTEIN, FRIEDMANN and CRANE, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Williams

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 27, 2003
305 A.D.2d 703 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)
Case details for

People v. Williams

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., respondent, v. SEAN WILLIAMS, appellant

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: May 27, 2003

Citations

305 A.D.2d 703 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)
759 N.Y.S.2d 684