Opinion
2012-12-27
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Soloman WRIGHT, Defendant–Appellant.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (David Crow of counsel), and White & Case LLP, New York (Benjamin Rose and Alan Schindler of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Britta Gilmore of counsel), for respondent.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (David Crow of counsel), and White & Case LLP, New York (Benjamin Rose and Alan Schindler of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Britta Gilmore of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bruce Allen, J.), rendered June 23, 2009, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the first degree (two counts) and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to an aggregate term of 12 years, unanimously affirmed.
The verdict finding defendant guilty of two counts of assault in the first degree was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence ( see People v. Danielson, 9 N.Y.3d 342, 348–349, 849 N.Y.S.2d 480, 880 N.E.2d 1 [2007];Penal Law § 120.10[1], [2] ). The evidence demonstrated that the wound the victim sustained constituted “serious disfigurement” ( People v. McKinnon, 15 N.Y.3d 311, 315–316, 910 N.Y.S.2d 767, 937 N.E.2d 524 [2010] ).
While defendant raises a founded argument that certain comments in the prosecutor's voir dire and opening and closing statements were improper in that they tended to shift the burden of proof, it is unpreserved ( see People v. Gray, 86 N.Y.2d 10, 19–20, 629 N.Y.S.2d 173, 652 N.E.2d 919 [1995] ). We decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that any improprieties in the statements of the prosecutor constituted harmless error in light of the evidence of guilt ( see People v. Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 230, 367 N.Y.S.2d 213, 326 N.E.2d 787 [1975] ).