People v. Green

257 A.D.2d 542, 682 N.Y.S.2d 594, 1999 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 695

Opinion

—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Felice Shea, J.), rendered September 27, 1996, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the third degree and, sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 3 to 6 years, unanimously affirmed.

The trial court’s Sandoval ruling, in which it, inter alia, allowed the prosecutor to inquire with respect to the underlying facts of defendant’s youthful offender adjudication in connection with his possession of a stolen car was a proper exercise of discretion (see, People v Gray, 84 NY2d 709, 712). The underlying facts of such adjudication, based upon possession of stolen property, bear heavily upon a defendant’s credibility (People v Arroyo, 194 AD2d 406, 407). The prosecutor’s cross-examination of defendant regarding the underlying facts of the adjudication was not excessively detailed or otherwise improper given defendant’s evasiveness. The fact that defendant volunteered on both direct and cross-examination that he had received youthful offender treatment opened the door to further inquiry along these lines (compare, People v Cook, 37 NY2d 591, 595-596).

We find that the court’s charge as a whole conveyed the appropriate standards regarding reasonable doubt (see, People v Coleman, 70 NY2d 817). Concur—Williams, J. P., Lerner, Rubin and Saxe, JJ.