People v Taylor
2014 NY Slip Op 01203 [114 AD3d 886]
February 19, 2014
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, March 26, 2014


The People of the State of New York,Respondent,
v
Eugene Taylor, Appellant.

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

Kenneth P. Thompson, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove andThomas M. Ross of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County(Reichbach, J.), rendered June 13, 2011, convicting him of murder in the second degreeand criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, andimposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's contention that the Supreme Court erred in permitting the People topresent the testimony of two witnesses in rebuttal of his alibi witness, despite thePeople's failure to provide notice of the rebuttal witnesses pursuant to CPL 250.20 (2), isunpreserved for appellate review (see CPL 470.05 [2]; People vPaterson, 227 AD2d 348, 349 [1996]). In any event, the contention is without merit."Under CPL 250.20 (3), (4), a trial court, in its discretion, may receive the testimony of awitness rebutting an alibi witness even if the People failed to serve notice of their intentto call the rebuttal witness" (People v Vasquez, 189 AD2d 578, 578 [1993],affd as mod 83 NY2d 269 [1994]) where, as here, the rebuttal witness'stestimony directly contradicts the alibi testimony and goes to a " 'material, core issue inthe case—defendant's whereabouts at the time of the crime' " (id. at 578,quoting People v Cade, 73 NY2d 904, 905 [1989]; see People v Brooks,210 AD2d 800, 802-803 [1994]).

The defendant's contention that he was deprived of the effective assistance ofcounsel based on defense counsel's failure to object to the rebuttal testimony is withoutmerit (see People v Caban,5 NY3d 143, 152 [2005]). Viewed in totality, defense counsel provided meaningfulrepresentation (see People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 712 [1998]; People vBaldi, 54 NY2d 137, 147 [1981]). Mastro, J.P., Rivera, Sgroi and Cohen, 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.