People v Colon
2013 NY Slip Op 00104 [102 AD3d 705]
January 9, 2013
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, February 27, 2013


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

[*1]Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (A. Alexander Donn of counsel), forappellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove and ThomasM. Ross of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County(Marrus, J.), rendered July 14, 2010, convicting him of manslaughter in the first degreeand criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, andimposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The Supreme Court improperly admitted into evidence a photograph of the victimtaken when he was alive, since this evidence was not relevant to a material fact to beproved at trial (see People v Stevens, 76 NY2d 833 [1990]; People v Mills, 48 AD3d703 [2008]; People vThompson, 34 AD3d 852, 854 [2006]; People v Rodriguez, 1 AD3d 386 [2003]). However, theerror was harmless, as there was overwhelming evidence of the defendant's guilt, and nosignificant probability that the error contributed to his convictions (see People vCrimmins, 36 NY2d 230 [1975]; People v Jackson, 41 AD3d 1268, 1269 [2007]; Peoplev Dove, 233 AD2d 751, 754 [1996]). Moreover, the People's failure to preserve thisexhibit did not deprive the defendant of meaningful appellate review (see People vYavru-Sakuk, 98 NY2d 56, 60 [2002]; People v Jackson, 98 NY2d 555, 560[2002]; People v Jackson, 41 AD3d at 1269).

The sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80[1982]). Angiolillo, J.P., Leventhal, Lott 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.