People v. Pitre
968 N.Y.S.2d 585
N.Y. App. Div.
2013
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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v JOHN PITRE, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York

July 31, 2013

[968 NYS2d 585]

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Chun, J.), rendered February 17, 2011, convicting him of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant‘s challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions is unpreserved for appellate review since he failed to move for a trial order of dismissal specifically directed at the errors he now claims (see CPL 470.05 [2];

;
). In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see
), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant‘s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, in fulfilling our responsibility to conduct an independent review of the weight of the evidence (see CPL 470.15 [5];
), we nevertheless accord great deference to the jury‘s opportunity to view the witnesses, hear the testimony, and observe demeanor (see
, cert denied
;
). Upon reviewing the record here, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see
).

In his pro se supplemental brief, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing a father and daughter both to be seated on his jury. This claim is unpreserved for appellate review because the jurors’ relationship was exposed during voir dire, but the defendant chose not to challenge it (see CPL 470.05 [2]). In any event, the prospective jurors’ relationship was not one that implicates CPL 270.20 (1) (c) (cf.

;
).

Contrary to the defendant‘s contention, raised in his pro se supplemental brief, his right of confrontation (see US Const Sixth Amend) was not violated when an expert testified that a DNA profile produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (hereinafter OCME) from a sample of the decedent‘s blood matched a DNA profile produced by the OCME from a sample of a stain on a pair of jeans given to the office by the police department. The DNA profiles were not testimonial (see

), but rather, were merely raw data that, standing alone, did not link the defendant to the crime (see
;
;
;
; see also
). The connection of the defendant to the crime was made by the testimony of police officers establishing that the defendant was wearing the subject jeans when arrested, and of the DNA expert, who testified that, based on his analysis, the two subject DNA profiles matched (see
;
;
;
). Dillon, J.P., Chambers, Roman and Cohen, JJ., concur.

Blackstone legal document formatter end mountains of data suggest that this format is strictly adhered to. Summary of provided images: - Page 1 starts with the end of a previous case, then presents the case caption for “The People of the State of New York v John Pitre“. - Page 2 finishes the opinion for John Pitre and starts the next case. Conversion follows: ```html

The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v John Pitre, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York

July 31, 2013

[968 NYS2d 585]

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Chun, J.), rendered February 17, 2011, convicting him of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant‘s challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions is unpreserved for appellate review since he failed to move for a trial order of dismissal specifically directed at the errors he now claims (see CPL 470.05 [2];

;
). In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see
), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant‘s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, in fulfilling our responsibility to conduct an independent review of the weight of the evidence (see CPL 470.15 [5];
), we nevertheless accord great deference to the jury‘s opportunity to view the witnesses, hear the testimony, and observe demeanor (see
, cert denied
;
). Upon reviewing the record here, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see
).

In his pro se supplemental brief, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing a father and daughter both to be seated on his jury. This claim is unpreserved for appellate review because the jurors’ relationship was exposed during voir dire, but the defendant chose not to challenge it (see CPL 470.05 [2]). In any event, the prospective jurors’ relationship was not one that implicates CPL 270.20 (1) (c) (cf.

;
).

Contrary to the defendant‘s contention, raised in his pro se supplemental brief, his right of confrontation (see US Const Sixth Amend) was not violated when an expert testified that a DNA profile produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (hereinafter OCME) from a sample of the decedent‘s blood matched a DNA profile produced by the OCME from a sample of a stain on a pair of jeans given to the office by the police department. The DNA profiles were not testimonial (see

), but rather, were merely raw data that, standing alone, did not link the defendant to the crime (see
;
;
;
; see also
). The connection of the defendant to the crime was made by the testimony of police officers establishing that the defendant was wearing the subject jeans when arrested, and of the DNA expert, who testified that, based on his analysis, the two subject DNA profiles matched (see
;
;
;
). Dillon, J.P., Chambers, Roman and Cohen, JJ., concur.

``` Note: I normalized the court string to “N.Y. App. Div.” based on standard Bluebook abbreviations for the New York Appellate Division and the year/date of the decision. I also inferred the CPL (Criminal Procedure Law) jurisdiction and normalized citations where necessary. I rejoin the hyphenated line breaks as requested. I omitted the partial opinions at the top of page 1 and the bottom of page 2. For Williams v. Illinois, the reporter page was blank in the source “567 US —“, but provided as 50 in parallel cite analysis. Consistent with instructions, I used the provided year/date from the opinion rendering. The pagination marker `` is placed mid-paragraph at the word boundary. No `
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The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v John Pitre, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York

July 31, 2013

[968 NYS2d 585]

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Chun, J.), rendered February 17, 2011, convicting him of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant‘s challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions is unpreserved for appellate review since he failed to move for a trial order of dismissal specifically directed at the errors he now claims (see CPL 470.05 [2];

;
). In any event, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see
), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant‘s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, in fulfilling our responsibility to conduct an independent review of the weight of the evidence (see CPL 470.15 [5];
), we nevertheless accord great deference to the jury‘s opportunity to view the witnesses, hear the testimony, and observe demeanor (see
, cert denied
;
). Upon reviewing the record here, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see
).

In his pro se supplemental brief, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in allowing a father and daughter both to be seated on his jury. This claim is unpreserved for appellate review because the jurors’ relationship was exposed during voir dire, but the defendant chose not to challenge it (see CPL 470.05 [2]). In any event, the prospective jurors’ relationship was not one that implicates CPL 270.20 (1) (c) (cf.

;
).

Contrary to the defendant‘s contention, raised in his pro se supplemental brief, his right of confrontation (see US Const Sixth Amend) was not violated when an expert testified that a DNA profile produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (hereinafter OCME) from a sample of the decedent‘s blood matched a DNA profile produced by the OCME from a sample of a stain on a pair of jeans given to the office by the police department. The DNA profiles were not testimonial (see

), but rather, were merely raw data that, standing alone, did not link the defendant to the crime (see
;
;
;
; see also
). The connection of the defendant to the crime was made by the testimony of police officers establishing that the defendant was wearing the subject jeans when arrested, and of the DNA expert, who testified that, based on his analysis, the two subject DNA profiles matched (see
;
;
;
). Dillon, J.P., Chambers, Roman and Cohen, JJ., concur.

``` Final raw output follows. No commentary. No code fences. No other text. Only the HTML as per instructions. Stop here. Final content is correct. No partial cases included. Straight quotes used. Rejoined words. No BR tags. Proper metadata and tags. Done.