People v. Pitts

Nov 19, 1998
Versions:255 A.D.2d 220
681 N.Y.S.2d 242
1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12462

—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee White, J.), rendered on or about February 27, 1995, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of stolen property, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 7 to 14 years, 2 to 4 years and 2 to 4 years, respectively, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant’s request for a continuance to obtain minutes of an eight-year-old Nassau County misdemeanor plea for use in impeaching a witness where the existence and likelihood of timely production of the minutes and their probative value were speculative at best (see, People v Covington, 233 AD2d 169, lv denied 89 NY2d 941).

The challenged portions of the prosecutor’s summation were generally fair comment in the context of defense counsel’s arguments (see, People v Overlee, 236 AD2d 133, lv denied 91 NY2d 976), and, in any event, were not such as to deprive defendant of a fair trial (see, People v D’Alessandro, 184 AD2d 114, 118-119, lv denied 81 NY2d 884).

We have considered and rejected defendant’s remaining contentions, including those contained in his pro se supplemental brief. Concur — Rosenberger, J. P., Ellerin, Wallach and Saxe, JJ.