People v Nimmons
2010 NY Slip Op 06762 [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
Jamel Nimmons, Appellant.

[*1] Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Martin M. Lucente of counsel), for appellant.

Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Jean Soo Park of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Richard L. Price, J.), rendered January 9, 2008, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal contempt in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of one year, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant's request for a missing witness instruction. The witness, whose friendship with the victim had ended long before the trial, was not in the People's control for purposes of a missing witness charge (see People v Abelson, 27 AD3d 301 [2006]). In any event, given the overwhelming evidence that defendant violated the order of protection, any error would have been harmless.

Defendant's remaining arguments are unavailing (see People v Correa, 15 NY3d 213 [2010]). Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Sweeny, Catterson, DeGrasse and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.