Case Name: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Wallee Comer, Appellant
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1989-03-30
Citations: 73 N.Y.2d 955
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Wallee Comer, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Reports
Volume: 73
Pages: 955–957

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Wallee Comer, Appellant.
Argued February 16, 1989;
decided March 30, 1989
APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
Francis A. Brady, Philip L. Weinstein and Celeste Lacy Davis for appellant.
Elizabeth Holtzman, District Attorney (Seth M. Lieberman, Barbara D. Underwood and Nikki Kowalski of counsel), for respondent.

Opinion:
OPINION OF THE COURT
Memorandum.
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.
Defendant maintains that he is entitled to a new trial because of improper comments by the District Attorney during summation or, failing that, that the matter must be remitted to the Appellate Division so that it may exercise its factual review powers and determine whether the jury's verdict was against the weight of the evidence (see, CPL 470.15 [5]; People v Bleakley, 69 NY2d 490).
Defendant failed to preserve his claims of error on many of the District Attorney's comments during summation and the court ruled correctly on those to which proper objections were taken. Moreover, to neutralize any prejudice resulting from the District Attorney's statements the court gave cura tive instructions in its charge to the jury. Defendant neither objected to these curative instructions nor requested additional instructions.
Insofar as defendant claims the Appellate Division failed to consider the weight of the evidence, it does not appear, as it did in Bleakley (69 NY2d, at 494-495, supra), that the court misunderstood its obligation to review the weight of evidence or that it failed to do so.
Chief Judge Wachtler and Judges Simons, Kaye, Alexander, Titone, Hancock, Jr., and Bellacosa concur.
Order affirmed in a memorandum.