People v Douglas
2009 NY Slip Op 05976 [64 AD3d 726]
July 21, 2009
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, September 2, 2009


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

[*1]Ronald L. Kuby, New York, N.Y. (Lea Spiess of counsel), for appellant.

Janet DiFiore, District Attorney, White Plains, N.Y. (Lois Cullen Valerio, RichardLongworth Hecht, and Anthony J. Servino of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Westchester County(Zambelli, J.), rendered May 31, 2007, convicting him of burglary in the first degree (twocounts), assault in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, andcriminal mischief in the fourth degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's contention that he was denied a fair trial by certain remarks made by theprosecutor during summation is unpreserved for appellate review (see CPL 470.05 [2];People v Tonge, 93 NY2d 838, 839-840 [1999]; People v Dien, 77 NY2d 885,885-886 [1991]; People v Balls, 69 NY2d 641, 642 [1986]; People v Arroyo, 309AD2d 870, 871 [2003]). In any event, the challenged comments were either fair comment on theevidence or responsive to the defense counsel's summation (see People v Halm, 81NY2d 819 [1993]; People v Maldonado,55 AD3d 626, 627-628 [2008]).

In fulfilling our responsibility to conduct an independent review of the weight of theevidence (see CPL 470.15 [5]; People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342 [2007]), we nevertheless accordgreat deference to the jury's opportunity to view the witnesses, hear the testimony, and observedemeanor (see People v Mateo, 2 NY3d 383, 410 [2004], cert denied 542 US946 [2004]; People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]). Upon reviewing the recordhere, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Romero, 7 NY3d633 [2006]). Florio, J.P., Miller, Covello and Austin, 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.