Summary
In People v. Johnson, 177 A.D.2d 711, 712, 576 N.Y.S.2d 1015, 1015 (2d Dep't 1991), the Appellate Division identified several claims (the conduct of a conference in Johnson's absence, prosecutorial misconduct in the opening and summation, and the ruling that Johnson was a persistent felony offender) and decided each of those claims on its merits.
Summary of this case from Rudenko v. CostelloOpinion
November 25, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Hellenbrand, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
On appeal the defendant contends that certain remarks made by the prosecutor in her opening address and summation deprived him of a fair trial, that his due process rights were violated when the court conducted the charge conference in his absence, and that he was improperly adjudicated a persistent violent felony offender. We disagree.
We find that the defendant's claims of error with respect to several of the prosecutor's comments are unpreserved for appellate review (CPL 470.05; People v. Medina, 53 N.Y.2d 951, 953). In any event, we find that the prosecutor's opening remarks merely presented to the jury the facts she expected to prove at trial and the evidence she planned to introduce (see, People v Williams, 160 A.D.2d 627; People v. Kurtz, 51 N.Y.2d 380, cert denied 451 U.S. 911). Furthermore, the prosecutor's summation constituted fair comment on the evidence and a fair response to the defendant's summation (People v. Saylor, 115 A.D.2d 671).
The defendant was not deprived of his due process rights when the court conducted the charge conference in his absence (see, People v. Velasco, 77 N.Y.2d 469).
Finally, we find that the defendant was properly adjudicated a persistent violent felony offender. Eiber, J.P., Rosenblatt, O'Brien and Ritter, JJ., concur.