Opinion
8984 Ind. 1225/13
04-11-2019
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Bismark LITHGOW, Defendant–Appellant.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Ellen Dille of counsel), for appellant. Bismark Lithgow, appellant pro se. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Alexander Michaels of counsel), for respondent.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Ellen Dille of counsel), for appellant.
Bismark Lithgow, appellant pro se.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Alexander Michaels of counsel), for respondent.
Acosta, P.J., Manzanet–Daniels, Tom, Oing, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Laura A. Ward, J.), rendered April 1, 2015, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of murder in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 21 years to life, unanimously affirmed.Defendant did not preserve his challenges to the prosecutor's summation, and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find no basis for reversal. To the extent that parts of the summation contained misstatements of law, "any prejudice was avoided by the court's charge, which the jury is presumed to have followed" ( People v. Ramos, 162 A.D.3d 453, 454, 78 N.Y.S.3d 125 [1st Dept. 2018] ).
The other comments challenged by defendant on appeal were generally responsive to defense counsel's attacks on the credibility of prosecution witnesses, and to the extent that a few isolated comments crossed the line of propriety and thus constituted error, there was no pattern of inflammatory remarks, nor any conduct so egregious as to warrant reversal (see People v. D'Alessandro, 184 A.D.2d 114, 118–120, 591 N.Y.S.2d 1001 [1st Dept. 1992], lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 884, 597 N.Y.S.2d 945, 613 N.E.2d 977 [1993] ).
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.
We have considered the arguments raised in defendant's pro se supplemental brief and find them unavailing.