| People v Gonsalves |
| 2019 NY Slip Op 01792 [170 AD3d 886] |
| March 13, 2019 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v David Gonsalves, Appellant. |
Paul Skip Laisure, New York, NY (Meredith S. Holt of counsel), for appellant, and appellantpro se.
Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Leonard Joblove, Morgan J. Dennehy, andDenise Pavlides of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (ShawnDyaL. Simpson, J.), rendered February 26, 2016, convicting him of robbery in the first degree,robbery in the second degree, robbery in the third degree, assault in the second degree, assault inthe third degree, and petit larceny, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law and as a matter of discretion in the interestof justice, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Kings County, for a new trial inaccordance herewith.
The defendant was convicted of robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree,robbery in the third degree, assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree, and petitlarceny, upon a jury verdict, in connection with the robbery of Robert Fernandez at gunpointinside a barbershop Fernandez owned in Brooklyn. At trial, the People presented Fernandez'stestimony that the robber was wearing a jacket with a hood over his head and a scarf covering hisnose and mouth so that only his eyes, the bottom part of his forehead, and part of his nose werevisible. Fernandez further testified that the defendant, whom Fernandez knew as a formercustomer, was the person who robbed him, taking cash, his cell phone, and his keys.
We agree with the Supreme Court's denial of the defendant's application, made prior to juryselection, for a Rodriguez and a Wade hearing (see United States v Wade,388 US 218 [1967]; People v Rodriguez, 79 NY2d 445 [1992]; People v Foster,217 AD2d 558 [1995]).
However, the Supreme Court should not have admitted into evidence, over the defendant'sobjection, Fernandez's testimony that the defendant's stepfather came to the barbershop severaldays after the robbery, to say he was "sorry" for what the defendant had done, to returnFernandez's keys, and to offer Fernandez a replacement cell phone. There was no showing thatthe defendant participated in or was in any way connected to his stepfather's actions (seePeople v Buzzi, 238 NY 390, 398 [1924]; People v Ya-ko Chi, 72 AD3d 709, 710 [2010]; People vBrooks, 292 AD2d 540, 541 [2002]).
We also exercise our interest of justice jurisdiction (see CPL 470.15 [6] [a]) to reachthe defendant's unpreserved contention that the testimony of an investigating detective recountinga conversation with an anonymous informant, a nontestifying witness, violated the defendant'srights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution(see US Const Sixth Amend). The informant reportedly was an eyewitness to the crimeand identified the defendant by name. The testimony "went beyond the permissible bounds ofprovid[ing] background information as to how and why the police pursued [the] defendant" (People v Garcia, 25 NY3d 77, 86[2015] [internal quotation marks omitted]; see People v Rawlings, 178 AD2d 619 [1991];cf. People v Lowe, 166 AD3d901 [2018]).
Since the evidence of guilt was not overwhelming, these errors were not harmless (seePeople v Crimmins, 36 NY2d 230, 241-242 [1975]). Accordingly, the defendant is entitled toa new trial.
Upon retrial, we remind the People that, on summation, a prosecutor may not "improperlyencourage[ ] inferences of guilt based on facts not in evidence" (People v Fisher, 18 NY3d 964,966 [2012]; see People v Powell,165 AD3d 842 [2018]). Here, there was no evidence to support the prosecutor's assertionthat Fernandez had identified the defendant as the robber "immediately" by recognizing adistinctive "dot" on the defendant's face.
In light of our determination, we need not reach the defendant's remaining contentions.Mastro, J.P., Austin, Miller and Maltese, JJ., concur.