People v. Chambers

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lawrence Tonetti, J.), rendered August 3, 1995, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 5 to 10 years, unanimously affirmed. The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant’s motion for a mistrial, since the witness’s response about a series of other robberies that had been committed was cut off in midstream and, in any event, was not linked to defendant in particular (see, People v Coursey, 250 AD2d 351, lv denied 92 NY2d 850). Moreover, defense counsel explicitly informed the court that he did not wish to have a curative instruction issued, and defendant’s complaint that the witness had acted in “bad faith” is unsubstantiated. The court’s instructions concerning credibility and identification, when viewed as a whole, conveyed the proper principles, including the People’s burden of proof with respect to the reliability of the identification testimony. 213 The court properly admitted limited testimony concerning the complainant’s viewing of a photo array since, under the circumstances, the defense opened the door to this matter (People v Straker, 247 AD2d 266). Concur — Milonas, J. P., Ellerin, Wallach and Tom, JJ.