People v. Randolph

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, J.), rendered December 1, 2009, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of burglary in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of 15 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly granted the People’s application to preclude defendant from cross-examining a witness about an arrest, because the mere fact of an arrest is not a permitted area for impeachment (People v Miller, 91 NY2d 372, 380 [1998]). Moreover, defense counsel expressly acquiesced in that ruling, disclaiming any desire to inquire about a mere arrest. While defendant presently asserts that the court also precluded inquiry into the witness’s purported guilty plea, the court made no such *523 ruling. On the contrary, both sides agreed that no record of a conviction existed.

We have considered and rejected defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim (see People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 713-714 [1998]; Strickland v Washington, 466 US 668 [1984]), as well as his pro se arguments.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.