| People v Wright |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 00423 [58 AD3d 543] |
| January 27, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| The People of the State of New York,
Respondent, v Gregory Wright, Appellant. |
—[*1]
Gregory Wright, appellant pro se.
Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Mary C. Farrington of counsel), for
respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Edwin Torres, J.), rendered March 2, 2006, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of attempted murder in the second degree, robbery in the first degree (two counts), burglary in the first degree, robbery in the second degree (two counts), and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a persistent violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 25 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's requests for missing witness charges, since defendant did not establish prima facie entitlement to such charges with respect to any of the uncalled witnesses (see People v Gonzalez, 68 NY2d 424 [1986]). The victim's stepson, who told the police he was asleep in a back bedroom during the robbery, was clearly not knowledgeable about any issue. The victim's stepson's former girlfriend was not under the People's control for purposes of a missing witness charge, since she did not have any relationship with the victim or with the prosecution that would create an expectation that she would provide testimony favorable to the People (see People v Abelson, 27 AD3d 301 [2006]). In addition, there was no reason to believe that she had any knowledge of the identity of the assailants or any other material issue. There is no merit to defendant's pro se claims regarding other uncalled [*2]witnesses, or any of his other pro se claims, including the constitutional components of those claims. Concur—Saxe, J.P., Gonzalez, Sweeny, Renwick and DeGrasse, JJ.