| People v Wright |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 00423 [58 AD3d 543] |
| January 27, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Gregory Wright, Appellant. |
—[*1] Gregory Wright, appellant pro se. Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Mary C. Farrington of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Edwin Torres, J.), rendered March 2, 2006,convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of attempted murder in the second degree, robbery in thefirst degree (two counts), burglary in the first degree, robbery in the second degree (two counts),and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a persistentviolent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 25 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's requests for missing witness charges, since defendantdid not establish prima facie entitlement to such charges with respect to any of the uncalledwitnesses (see People v Gonzalez, 68 NY2d 424 [1986]). The victim's stepson, who toldthe police he was asleep in a back bedroom during the robbery, was clearly not knowledgeableabout any issue. The victim's stepson's former girlfriend was not under the People's control forpurposes of a missing witness charge, since she did not have any relationship with the victim orwith the prosecution that would create an expectation that she would provide testimonyfavorable to the People (see People vAbelson, 27 AD3d 301 [2006]). In addition, there was no reason to believe that she hadany knowledge of the identity of the assailants or any other material issue. There is no merit todefendant's pro se claims regarding other uncalled [*2]witnesses,or any of his other pro se claims, including the constitutional components of those claims.Concur—Saxe, J.P., Gonzalez, Sweeny, Renwick and DeGrasse, JJ.