People v. Lugo
Opinion of the Court
—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Fisher, J.), rendered March 29, 1993, convicting him of robbery in the first degree (two counts) and robbery in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of the branch of the defendant’s omnibus motion which was to suppress identification testimony.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant contends that the trial court erred by allowing the jury to hear testimony that persons associated with his codefendant had threatened the prosecution’s witnesses. We disagree. The record reveals that the trial court carefully instructed the jury that the evidence in question was only to be considered with respect to the codefendant. Because the jury is presumed to follow the court’s instructions, any alleged prejudice to the defendant was alleviated (see, People v Gibbs, 59 NY2d 930, 932; People v Berg, 59 NY2d 294, 299-300; People v Brisbane, 203 AD2d 89, 90; see also, People v Dailey, 188 AD2d 485).
We find no merit to the defendant’s contention that testimony about the lineup identification should have been suppressed because of police misconduct in conducting the lineup.
Furthermore, the hearing court properly determined that the lineup itself was not so impermissibly suggestive that it created a substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification (see, People v Chipp, 75 NY2d 327, 335, cert denied 498 US 833; People v McClarin, 157 AD2d 747). Nothing about the lineup suggested that the witness should choose the defendant (see, People v Smith, 208 AD2d 966; People v Christenson, 188 AD2d 659, 660; People v Ahmed, 173 AD2d 546; People v Henderson, 170 AD2d 532, 533).
The defendant’s sentence is not excessive (see, People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80).
The defendant’s remaining contentions are either unpreserved for appellate review (see, CPL 470.05 [2]) or without merit. Rosenblatt, J. P., Copertino, Hart and Friedmann, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.