People v Spinelli
2010 NY Slip Op 09947 [79 AD3d 1152]
December 28, 2010
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, February 16, 2011


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

[*1]Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Steven R. Bernhard of counsel), for appellant.

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano, Ellen C.Abbot, and Danielle S. Fenn of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Hollie, J.)rendered September 17, 2008, convicting him of assault in the first degree and criminalpossession of a weapon in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's contention that the trial court erred in denying his request for a missingwitness charge is unpreserved for appellate review since the specific arguments he now makeswere not raised before the trial court (see CPL 470.05 [2]; People v Lopez, 19AD3d 510, 511 [2005]). In any event, the contention is without merit, as the defendant failed todemonstrate that the testimony of the witness in question would have been favorable to thePeople (see People v Keen, 94 NY2d 533, 539 [2000]; People v Smith, 71 AD3d1174, 1175 [2010]) or that the witness was under the People's control (see People vJacobs, 65 AD3d 594, 596 [2009]). Moreover, the witness was equally available to bothparties (see People v Clas, 54 AD3d 770, 771 [2008]).

The defendant's contention that various comments made by the prosecutor during summationwere improper and deprived him of a fair trial is unpreserved for appellate review, as thedefendant either did not object to the remarks at issue (see CPL 470.05 [2]), made onlygeneral one-word objections (see People v Salnave, 41 AD3d 872, 874 [2007]), or failedto seek curative instructions or a mistrial when the trial court sustained the objections (seePeople v Muniz, 44 AD3d 1074 [2007]; People v White, 5 AD3d 511 [2004]). In anyevent, the challenged portions of the prosecutor's summation constituted fair response to thedefense summation, or fair comment on the evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawntherefrom (see People v Amico, 78 AD3d 1190 [2010]; People v Kurney, 69AD3d 957 [2010]; People v Bowman, 58 AD3d 747, 748 [2009]). Covello, J.P., Eng,Chambers and Hall, JJ., concur.


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