People v Williams
2008 NY Slip Op 09108 [56 AD3d 700]
November 18, 2008
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, January 7, 2009


The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Leshawn Williams, Appellant.

[*1]Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Steven R. Bernhard of counsel), for appellant, andappellant pro se.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Thomas M. Ross, andHelen M. Polyzos of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Feldman, J.),rendered May 25, 2005, convicting him of murder in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, andimposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's contention that the trial court erred in permitting a conference between theprosecutor and a prosecution witness in the midst of the witness's testimony is unpreserved forappellate review (see CPL 470.05 [2]; People v Cruz, 23 AD3d 1109 [2005]). Inany event, the trial court providently exercised its discretion in granting the prosecutor'sapplication for the mid-testimony conference (see People v Branch, 83 NY2d 663 [1994];People v Davis, 1 AD3d 607 [2003]).

The defendant further contends that testimony adduced at trial and certain summationcomments improperly suggested that he intimidated a prosecution witness and a potentialwitness, and had a connection to a person in the audience of the courtroom who caused thewitness to become nervous during her testimony. However, any such error was harmless, as therewas overwhelming evidence of the defendant's guilt, and no significant probability that thealleged error contributed to his conviction (see People v Crimmins, 36 NY2d 230[1975]).[*2]

The contentions raised in the defendant's supplementalpro se brief are without merit. Mastro, J.P., Rivera, Covello and Leventhal, JJ., concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.