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People v. Osuna

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Jul 2, 1985
65 N.Y.2d 822 (N.Y. 1985)

Opinion

Argued May 31, 1985

Decided July 2, 1985

Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, Joseph D. Quinn, Jr., J.

Monica Drinane and William E. Hellerstein for appellant.

Mario Merola, District Attorney ( Richard P. Marin and Peter D. Coddington of counsel), for respondent.


MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

Defendant was convicted after a jury trial of robbery in the first degree based primarily on identification testimony by the victim and inculpatory statements he made to the victim after being arrested. We agree with the majority at the Appellate Division that the error in admitting the testimony that the defendant's sister said to him, just after his arrest, "Oh no, not again. What did you do this time?" was harmless. Whatever interpretation the jury may have given to this remark, we cannot conclude in view of all the evidence that there is a significant probability that it would have acquitted the defendant had it not been for this error ( see, People v Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 230, 242). The portion of the rebuttal testimony of the Assistant District Attorney which defendant now claims deprived him of a fair trial was not objected to at trial and is thus beyond our review. Defendant objected only to the narrative form of this witness's testimony, which was not sufficient to preserve a contention that the substance of a portion of the testimony was improper.

Chief Judge WACHTLER and Judges JASEN, MEYER, SIMONS, KAYE, TITONE and BOOMER concur; Judge ALEXANDER taking no part.

Designated pursuant to N Y Constitution, article VI, § 2.

Order affirmed in a memorandum.


Summaries of

People v. Osuna

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Jul 2, 1985
65 N.Y.2d 822 (N.Y. 1985)
Case details for

People v. Osuna

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. ROBERTO OSUNA…

Court:Court of Appeals of the State of New York

Date published: Jul 2, 1985

Citations

65 N.Y.2d 822 (N.Y. 1985)
493 N.Y.S.2d 119
482 N.E.2d 915

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