People v Brown
2010 NY Slip Op 01120 [70 AD3d 1341]
February 11, 2010
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, March 31, 2010


The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v La'Shawn D.Brown, Appellant.

[*1]Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society, Syracuse (Philip Rothschild of counsel), fordefendant-appellant.

William J. Fitzpatrick, District Attorney, Syracuse (Victoria M. White of counsel), forrespondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Onondaga County Court (William D. Walsh, J.), renderedMay 2, 2006. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of criminal possession of aweapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (two counts)and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

It is hereby ordered that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously affirmed.

Memorandum: Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him upon a jury verdict of,inter alia, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (Penal Law § 265.03[former (2)]). Viewing the evidence in light of the elements of the crimes as charged to the jury(see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d342, 349 [2007]), and according great deference to the jury's resolution of credibility issues,we conclude that the verdict is not against the weight of the evidence (see generally People vBleakley, 69 NY2d 490, 495 [1987]). The record does not support defendant's contentionthat evidentiary rulings by County Court during the cross-examination by defendant of certainprosecution witnesses impaired his ability to present a defense (see People v Martin, 33 AD3d1024 [2006], lv denied 8 NY3d 882 [2007]; see also People v Macuil, 67 AD3d 1025 [2009]). Contrary todefendant's further contention, the prosecutor did not improperly vouch for the credibility of awitness during his summation but, rather, his statements were fair comment on the credibility ofthat witness, in response to the defense counsel's summation (see People v Lazzaro, 62 AD3d 1035 [2009]; People v Williams, 52 AD3d 851[2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 836 [2008]). Present—Smith, J.P., Centra, Fahey,Green and Pine, JJ.


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.