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People v. Santiago

174 A.D.2d 520 Court N.Y. App. Div. Decision date 1991-06-20 English

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p. 520
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Hector Santiago, Appellant.

—Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Vincent Vitale, J.), rendered July 8, 1987, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the first degree, and sentencing him to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of from 2 to 6 years, unanimously affirmed.

Complainant was robbed of her gold neck chain by the defendant, a person she had previously seen in the neighborhood. Approximately two and one-half months later, complainant saw the defendant, who was wearing the same coat and sneakers as he had when he committed the robbery, in a local supermarket located two blocks from the place where the robbery occurred. Defendant, once arrested, stated to the complainant, "I’m going to kill you when I get out”.

Defendant claims he was denied a fair trial when the prosecutor, in summation, allegedly mischaracterized the defense by arguing that defendant’s own testimony precluded a mistaken identification claim; argued facts not in evidence; and improperly characterized defendant as a welfare fraud. These claims are unpreserved insofar as defendant, at trial,

p. 521
voiced only a single general objection to one of the comments now challenged. In any event, we find the prosecutor’s remarks to have been entirely proper. Concur—-Sullivan, J. P., Rosenberger, Kupferman, Smith and Rubin, JJ.