People v. Carter

Decision Date12 November 2002
Citation749 N.Y.S.2d 101,299 A.D.2d 418
CourtNew York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
PartiesTHE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>PHILLIP CARTER, Appellant.

Smith, J.P., Schmidt, Adams and Cozier, JJ., concur.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant contends that he was denied his constitutional right to represent himself. The exercise of that right requires an unequivocal request (see People v McIntyre, 36 NY2d 10, 17), which was lacking in this case. The defendant's requests were equivocal, since they were overshadowed by his numerous requests for new counsel and his disapproval of the trial judge, and thus do not constitute an unequivocal knowing and voluntary election to forego the benefit of an attorney and proceed pro se (see People v Rainey, 240 AD2d 682; People v Jimenez, 253 AD2d 693).

The trial court properly denied the defendant's request to waive a trial by jury, as that request was used in an attempt to gain an impermissible advantage (see People ex rel. Rohrlich v Follette, 20 NY2d 297; People v Miller, 197 AD2d 925).

The defendant contends that certain allegedly improper comments made by the prosecutor during summation constituted reversible error. However, the defendant failed to preserve this contention for appellate review. No objections were raised to the majority of the comments in question, while those comments to which objections were registered were followed by curative instructions, subsequent to which the defendant neither asked for further curative instructions nor moved for a mistrial. The defendant thereby indicated that the court sufficiently had cured any error to his satisfaction (see CPL 470.05 [2]; People v Medina, 53 NY2d 951). In any event, when the remarks complained of are fairly evaluated in comparison with the summation comments of defense counsel, they either constituted fair response to defense counsel's summation or were within the confines of the evidence (see People v Rosario, 195 AD2d 577).

The sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80).

To continue reading

Request your trial
5 cases
  • People v. Barnes
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
    • 22 Diciembre 2017
    ...334, 334, 664 N.Y.S.2d 535 [1st Dept. 1997], lv. denied 91 N.Y.2d 880, 668 N.Y.S.2d 578, 691 N.E.2d 650 [1997] ; see People v. Carter , 299 A.D.2d 418, 418–419, 749 N.Y.S.2d 101 [2d Dept. 2002], lv. denied 99 N.Y.2d 615, 757 N.Y.S.2d 823, 787 N.E.2d 1169 [2003] ). Even assuming, arguendo, t......
  • People v. Nahshal
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
    • 11 Enero 2017
    ...v. White, 60 A.D.3d 877, 878, 875 N.Y.S.2d 551 ; People v. Jenkins, 45 A.D.3d 864, 864–865, 846 N.Y.S.2d 347 ; People v. Carter, 299 A.D.2d 418, 419, 749 N.Y.S.2d 101 ; cf. People v. Lewis, 114 A.D.3d 402, 404, 980 N.Y.S.2d 389 ). Under the circumstances, the Supreme Court did not improvide......
  • People v. Baxter
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
    • 16 Enero 2013
    ...v. White, 60 A.D.3d 877, 878, 875 N.Y.S.2d 551;People v. Jenkins, 45 A.D.3d 864, 864–865, 846 N.Y.S.2d 347;People v. Carter, 299 A.D.2d 418, 418–419, 749 N.Y.S.2d 101). Similarly, the defendant's contention that the Supreme Court improvidently exercised its discretion in removing him from t......
  • In re Kathleen K.
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
    • 30 Marzo 2010
    ...( cf. People v. Johnson, 55 A.D.3d 328, 864 N.Y.S.2d 429; People v. Kennedy, 25 A.D.3d 567, 806 N.Y.S.2d 420; People v. Carter, 299 A.D.2d 418, 749 N.Y.S.2d 101; People v. Jones, 187 A.D.2d 750, 751, 589 N.Y.S.2d 937). In any event, the record as a whole demonstrates that the father did not......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT