Opinion
October 28, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Groh, J.).
Ordered that the judgments and amended judgment are affirmed.
The defendant claims that he was deprived of a fair trial on Indictment No. 2860/89 because the trial court explained to the jury during the preliminary instructions that the defendant would have the opportunity to present witnesses if he desired to do so, and later on, explained that certain adjournments following the presentation of the People's case were being granted in order to afford the defendant an opportunity to produce witnesses. However, this contention is unpreserved for appellate review, as no objection was made to these comments (see, CPL 470.05; People v. Morton, 117 A.D.2d 631; cf., People v. Autry, 75 N.Y.2d 836). In any event, we find that the court's remarks were not so prejudicial as to prevent the jury from reaching an impartial verdict, especially in light of the court's final charge, which emphasized the presumption of innocence and that the defendant had no burden to present a defense (see, People v. Melendez, 158 A.D.2d 720).
The defendant also asserts that the trial court erred by delivering an unrequested instruction to the jury that it could not draw any unfavorable inference from the defendant's failure to testify (see, CPL 300.10). However, this contention is also unpreserved for appellate review because no objection was made to the charge as given (see, CPL 470.05; People v Autry, supra; People v. Ruscitti, 163 A.D.2d 431). In any event, although the record does not reflect what requests were made during the charge conference, we note that the instruction was short and mirrored the statutory text (see, 1 CJI [NY] 7.05). In no way did the court imply that the defendant should have testified or that he refrained from doing so as a tactical maneuver (cf., People v. Whipple, 155 A.D.2d 494; People v Mannery, 151 A.D.2d 697; People v. Williams, 150 A.D.2d 628; People v. Concepcion, 128 A.D.2d 887). Thus, under the circumstances of this case, any error was harmless (see, People v. Vereen, 45 N.Y.2d 856; People v. Ruscitti, supra).
We also reject the defendant's argument that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. Viewing defense counsel's performance in its entirety, we conclude that the defendant was afforded meaningful representation (see, People v. Rivera, 71 N.Y.2d 705).
In light of our determination, the defendant's contention that a reversal of the judgment rendered upon Indictment No. 2860/89 would require vacatur of the amended judgment rendered upon Indictment No. 4400/87 and the judgment rendered on Indictment No. 3170/89, is academic. Thompson, J.P., Kunzeman, Lawrence and Miller, JJ., concur.