People v. Woodwards

215 A.D.2d 203, 626 N.Y.S.2d 442, 1995 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5020

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Vincent Vitale, J.), rendered March 31, 1993, convicting defendant, after jury trial, of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of 5 to 10 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant did not object to the prosecutor’s single summation comment he now claims deprived him of a fair trial, and thus did not preserve his current claim of error (CPL 470.05; People v Iannelli, 69 NY2d 684, cert denied 482 US 914). In any event, taken in context, the comment constituted appropriate response to the defense summation (People v Marks, 6 NY2d 67, cert denied 362 US 912), and fair comment on the evidence, presented within the broad bounds of rhetorical comment permissible in closing argument (People v Galloway, 54 NY2d 396). Further, in light of the overwhelming evidence against defendant, any inartful phrasing by the prosecutor in closing argument is deemed harmless error (People v Crimmins, 36 NY2d 230). Concur—Murphy, P. J., Rubin, Ross, Williams and Tom, JJ.