| People v Labossiere |
| 2017 NY Slip Op 02446 [148 AD3d 1183] |
| March 29, 2017 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Wilfred Labossiere, Appellant. |
Anthony M. Grandinette, Mineola, NY (Mirel Fisch of counsel), for appellant.
Madeline Singas, District Attorney, Mineola, NY (Donald Berk and John B. Latella ofcounsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Grella, J.),rendered June 2, 2014, convicting him of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree,and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (two counts), upon a jury verdict, andimposing sentence.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant was charged with murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, andrelated weapons offenses, arising out of an altercation in which he fatally shot ChristopherMullings and shot and injured Sandra Clarke. At trial, the defendant asserted a justificationdefense. A video recording of the encounter was admitted into evidence and played for the jury,and was submitted to the jury, upon its request, on both days of its deliberations. The defendantwas convicted on all counts.
The defendant contends that he was denied his rights to confrontation and cross-examinationand was deprived of a fair trial by the submission of the video to the jury with a video playerwhich caused defects in the audio, and that a mistrial should have been granted or a requestedcurative instruction given. Preliminarily, the defendant's constitutional contentions are notpreserved for appellate review since he did not raise them before the Supreme Court (seeCPL 470.05 [2]; People v Lane, 7NY3d 888, 889 [2006]). In any event, they are without merit, and the court providentlyexercised its discretion in denying the defendant's motions for a mistrial or a curative instruction(see People v Smith, 143 AD3d1005 [2016]). The defendant's contention that the video player submitted to the jury on itsfirst day of deliberations caused the video to skip when viewed by the jury is speculative. Whilethere had been some issues with the video player during the prosecutor's summation, the jury hadseen the video play properly numerous times during the trial, and did not indicate to the court thatthe video was skipping when played during deliberations (see People v Rojas, 133 AD3d 543 [2015]). In any event, evenassuming that there were issues with the video player during the first day of deliberations, anyprejudice was ameliorated during the second day of deliberations when the video was submittedto the jury with a video player which the parties agreed was properly functioning (see Peoplev Young, 48 NY2d 995, 996 [1980]; People v Johnson, 139 AD3d 967, 975 [2016], lv granted28 NY3d 939 [2016]). Further, in the absence of evidence that any problems with the videoplayer occurred during the first day of deliberations, the requested curative instruction notifyingthe jury of the presumed problem was unnecessary and may have only served to confuse the jury(see People v Knapp, 113 AD2d 154, 166 [1985]).
[*2] The defendant's contention that he was deprived of a fairtrial by the prosecutor's misstatement, during summation, of the law concerning an initialaggressor is without merit. The comment could not have been interpreted by the jury as aninstruction on the law because the Supreme Court reminded the jury that it would define the lawand subsequently gave a correct instruction on the law (see People v Cephas, 91 AD3d 668, 669 [2012]; People v Torres, 90 AD3d 420[2011]; People v Giuca, 58 AD3d750 [2009]). Thus, the defendant was not prejudiced by the comment. The defendant'sremaining challenges to comments made by the prosecutor during summation are not preservedfor appellate review (see CPL 470.05 [2]; People v Romero, 7 NY3d 911 [2006]). In any event, most of thechallenged remarks were fair comment on the evidence (see People v Ashwal, 39 NY2d105, 109-110 [1976]). Although certain of the challenged comments were improper (see People v Gordon, 50 AD3d821 [2008]; People v Pagan, 2AD3d 879 [2003]; People v Torres, 111 AD2d 885 [1985]), they were not soegregious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial (see People v Alphonso, 144 AD3d 1168 [2016]; People v Ward, 106 AD3d 842[2013]).
The Supreme Court properly declined to charge the jury with the defendant's requestedinstruction on prior threats, which marshaled the evidence (see CPL 300.10 [2];People v Saunders, 64 NY2d 665 [1984]; People v Moore, 92 AD3d 575, 576 [2012]; People v Correa, 73 AD3d 942[2010]; People v Campbell, 68AD3d 890 [2009]). While it would have been appropriate for the court to instruct the jury inaccordance with the "evidence of threats" addition to the justification charge contained in theCriminal Jury Instructions (CJI2d[NY] Justification: Use of Deadly Physical Force in Defense ofa Person), any error in failing to do so was harmless, as there was overwhelming evidencedisproving the defendant's justification defense and no significant probability that the lack of theinstruction contributed to the defendant's convictions (see People v Petty, 7 NY3d 277, 286 [2006]; People vCrimmins, 36 NY2d 230, 241-242 [1975]).
Upon our independent review pursuant to CPL 470.15 (5), we are satisfied that the verdict ofguilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Romero, 7 NY3d 633 [2006]). Mastro, J.P.,Chambers, Miller and Maltese, JJ., concur.