People v. Melendez
Opinion of the Court
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Peter J. Benitez, J.), rendered March 19, 2008, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of burglary in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of seven years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant is not entitled to summary reversal as the result of the People’s loss of a surveillance tape and 911 tape that were admitted at trial (see People v Yavru-Sakuk, 98 NY2d 56 [2002]). The record establishes that the surveillance tape had little value because it did not show anyone’s faces, and a full transcript of the 911 call is in the record. Furthermore, defendant has not identified any issue that this Court could not decide without viewing the videotape or listening to the audiotape.
Defendant did not preserve any of his challenges to the prosecutor’s summation and the court’s charge, including his constitutional claims, and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find no basis for reversal.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur— Mazzarelli, J.P., Saxe, Nardelli, Abdus-Salaam and Román, JJ.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.