People v Black |
2011 NY Slip Op 09664 [90 AD3d 1066] |
December 27, 2011 |
Appellate Division, Second Department |
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Craig Black, Appellant. |
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Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Jodi L. Mandel, and
Meg D. Holzer of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Heffernan, Jr., J.), rendered July 30, 2007, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
"A criminal defendant has a fundamental constitutional right to present witnesses in his or her own defense" (People v Pitt, 84 AD3d 1275, 1276 [2011]; see Chambers v Mississippi, 410 US 284, 302 [1973]). "Moreover, '[a] [trial] court's discretion in evidentiary rulings is circumscribed by the rules of evidence and the defendant's constitutional right to present a defense' " (People v Pitt, 84 AD3d at 1276, quoting People v Carroll, 95 NY2d 375, 385 [2000]; see People v Diaz, 85 AD3d 1047, 1050 [2011]; People v Ocampo, 28 AD3d 684, 685 [2006]). However, a defendant's right to present a defense is not absolute (see People v Hayes, 17 NY3d 46, 53 [2011], cert denied 565 US —, 132 S Ct 844 [2011]; People v Williams, 81 NY2d 303, 313 [1993]), and the trial court has wide latitude to exclude evidence that is repetitive, only marginally relevant, or poses an undue risk of confusion of the issues (see People v Bowen, 67 AD3d 1022, 1023 [2009]; People v Celifie, 287 AD2d 465, 466 [2001]; People v Cancel, 176 AD2d 748, 749 [1991]).
The Supreme Court, under the circumstances here, providently exercised its discretion in excluding testimony of a witness called by the defendant that there was a video camera outside the building where the defendant allegedly completed a drug sale to an undercover police officer (see People v Hayes, 17 NY3d 46 [2011]). Dillon, J.P., Florio, Chambers and Miller, JJ., concur.