| People v Kowlessar |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 01536 [82 AD3d 417] |
| March 1, 2011 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Mohan Kowlessar, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (T. Charles Won of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (John W. Carter, J.), rendered March 19, 2009,convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of four counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, andsentencing him to an aggregate term of 12 years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's arguments concerning the People's summation are unpreserved and we decline toreview them in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we also reject them on themerits. The prosecutor had a sufficient basis on which to comment on defendant's failure to callhis brother to corroborate his own testimony, and this comment did not improperly shift theburden of proof. Defendant's brother was an available and presumably favorable witness whocould have provided material, noncumulative testimony (see People v Cochran, 29 AD3d 365 [2006], lv denied 7NY3d 787 [2006]). The remaining summation remarks challenged on appeal were permissiblecomments on the evidence and responses to the defendant's summation (see People vOverlee, 236 AD2d 133 [1997], lv denied 91 NY2d 976 [1998]; People vD'Alessandro, 184 AD2d 114, 118-119 [1992], lv denied 81 NY2d 884 [1993]).
Defendant did not preserve his challenge to the proficiency of the official court interpreter attrial who translated the victim's testimony, and we decline to review it in the interest of justice.As an alternative holding, we find the record establishes that the interpreter provided an adequatetranslation of the testimony. While there were occasional difficulties in translation, [*2]they were sufficiently rectified so that the victim's testimony wasproperly presented to the jury (see e.g. People v Watkins, 12 AD3d 165 [2004], lv denied 4 NY3d836 [2005]; People v Nedal, 198 AD2d 42 [1993]). Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P.,Friedman, Catterson, Manzanet-Daniels and RomÁn, JJ.