Opinion
Argued April 6, 2000.
May 4, 2000.
APPEAL, by permission of a Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department, from an order of that Court, entered June 21, 1999, which affirmed a judgment of Nassau County Court (Daniel J. Cotter, J.), rendered upon a verdict convicting defendant of robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.
Defendant was convicted of crimes arising from a knifepoint robbery. At the Appellate Division he argued that a variety of errors and excessive intervention by the trial court warranted reversal and a new trial. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction, concluding, inter alia, that the conduct of the Trial Judge, by allegedly interjecting himself into the proceedings, and any other instances cited, alone or in the aggregate, did not constitute improper conduct and warrant a new trial, or prevent the jury from reaching an impartial verdict; and that allegedly erroneous trial rulings did not warrant a new trial.
Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, Hempstead (Christopher M. Cevasco, Matthew Muraskin and Kent V. Moston of counsel), for appellant.
Denis Dillon, District Attorney of Nassau County, Mineola (Edward Miller, and Peter A. Weinstein of counsel), for respondent.
Order affirmed for reasons stated in the memorandum of the Appellate Division ( 262 A.D.2d 570). Chief Judge Kaye and Judges Bellacosa, Smith, Levine, Ciparick, Wesley and Rosenblatt concur.