| People v Banks |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 07308 [66 AD3d 485] |
| October 13, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Brandon Banks, Appellant. |
—[*1]
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Lewis Bart Stone, J.), rendered November 6,2008, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of two counts of robbery in the first degree and twocounts of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of seven years,unanimously affirmed.
The testimony of the victim of a nearby and contemporaneous uncharged robbery wasproperly admitted as it was inextricably linked with the charged robberies (see People vVails, 43 NY2d 364, 368-369 [1977]; People v Gines, 36 NY2d 932 [1975]; People v Pettaway, 30 AD3d 257,258 [2006], lv denied 7 NY3d 816 [2006]). The charged and uncharged robberiesoverlapped in time and were essentially part of a single event. The challenged testimony thushelped to explain the events to the jury and provide a believable context for testimony about therobbers' behavior in moving back and forth. The court's limiting instruction minimized anyprejudicial effect.
Defendant's uncharged crimes argument relating to certain physical evidence is unpreservedand we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we also reject iton the merits.
After sufficient inquiry, the court properly determined that a juror's innocuous, one-wordcompliment to a police witness in a courthouse elevator did not render the juror grosslyunqualified. The juror revealed that he meant he had been impressed by the witness's "delivery,"and that he did not realize he had violated the court's instructions concerning jury behavior. Thejuror unequivocally stated that he had formed no opinion, could remain impartial, and would[*2]follow the court's instructions thereafter (see People vTaveras, 224 AD2d 461, 462 [1996], lv denied 88 NY2d 970 [1996]).Concur—Saxe, J.P., Nardelli, Buckley, Acosta and Freedman, JJ.