| People v Gagot |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 02724 [61 AD3d 461] |
| April 9, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Carlos Gagot, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Susan Axelrod of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Edwin Torres, J.), rendered October 31, 2007,convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the second degree (three counts) andattempted assault in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender,to an aggregate term of seven years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant failed to preserve his arguments that the court improperly interfered with defensecounsel's examination of witnesses and improperly denigrated defense counsel (see People vCharleston, 56 NY2d 886, 887-888 [1982]), and we decline to review them in the interest ofjustice. As an alternative holding, we find no basis for reversal. Most of the conduct challengedby defendant on appeal was permissible clarification, and even if some of the court'sinterventions and comments were inappropriate, they were not so egregious as to deprivedefendant of a fair trial (see People v Arnold, 98 NY2d 63, 67 [2002]; People vMoulton, 43 NY2d 944 [1978]; compare People v Retamozzo, 25 AD3d 73 [2005]).
Defendant's testimony on direct examination that he had been a victim of a crime and that hetherefore carried a weapon for his own protection clearly opened the door to cross-examinationabout his gang affiliation (see People v Melendez, 55 NY2d 445, 451-452 [1982]).
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Gonzalez, P.J., Tom,Sweeny, Catterson and Renwick, JJ.