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People v. Riggins

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Oct 10, 2002
298 A.D.2d 192 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)

Opinion

1839

October 10, 2002.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bruce Allen, J.), rendered January 28, 1998, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 4 1/2 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

SUZANNE M. HERBERT, for respondent.

MARIANNE KARAS, for defendant-appellant.

Before: Tom, J.P., Andrias, Saxe, Buckley, Lerner, JJ.


The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence. The officer's testimony established that defendant was hawking the type of drugs being sold, steering the buyers to the person who had the drugs, and, as the exchanges were taking place, acting as a lookout. We perceive no reason to disturb the jury's decision to credit that testimony.

The court's Sandoval ruling balanced the appropriate factors and was a proper exercise of discretion (see People v. Hayes, 97 N.Y.2d 203; People v. Walker, 83 N.Y.2d 455, 458-459; People v. Pavao, 59 N.Y.2d 282, 292).

The court properly exercised its discretion in imposing reasonable limits on cross-examination, and defendant received a fair opportunity to cross-examine the People's witnesses on all relevant issues (see Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 678-679).

Defendant was not entitled to disclosure of arrest records for persons who were arrested, for drug transactions unrelated to this case, after the arrest of defendant and his codefendant had been completed. This did not constitute Rosario material since it did not relate to the direct testimony of the officers (see People v. Stern, 226 A.D.2d 238, lv denied 88 N.Y.2d 969).

The motion to set aside the verdict based on juror misconduct was properly denied. A jury verdict may not be impeached other than by a showing of improper outside influence or extraneous information (see People v. Brown, 48 N.Y.2d 388, 393-394), neither of which was present here. Furthermore, the alleged comment by the juror subsequent to the verdict did not indicate that he had given false information during jury selection.

Defendant's remaining contentions are unpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would reject them.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.


Summaries of

People v. Riggins

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Oct 10, 2002
298 A.D.2d 192 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
Case details for

People v. Riggins

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, RESPONDENT, v. ISAAC RIGGINS…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Oct 10, 2002

Citations

298 A.D.2d 192 (N.Y. App. Div. 2002)
748 N.Y.S.2d 136

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