People v DeGannes

People v DeGannes 2010 NY Slip Op 06761 [76 AD3d 935] September 30, 2010 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Samuel DeGannes, Appellant.

—[*1] Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Denise Fabiano of counsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Karen Schlossberg of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Arlene R. Silverman, J.), rendered June 10, 2008, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of four years, unanimously affirmed.

The court provided a meaningful response to a jury note (see People v Santi, 3 NY3d 234, 248-249 [2004]; People v Malloy, 55 NY2d 296 [1982]). When, due to lack of consent by defendant (see CPL 310.30), the court was unable to comply with the jury's request for a written definition of constructive possession, it properly exercised its discretion in giving an oral definition that was both legally correct and substantially similar to the instruction contained in the court's original charge. Even if the response went beyond the precise terms of the jury's request, defendant was not prejudiced (see People v Lourido, 70 NY2d 428, 435 [1987]; People v Mariera, 219 AD2d 496 [1995], lv denied 87 NY2d 923 [1996]). Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Sweeny, Catterson, DeGrasse and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.