PEOPLE v. DINKINS (2000)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Jay Gold, J.), rendered June 23, 1997, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of two counts of burglary in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 8 years, unanimously affirmed.

 The court properly exercised its discretion in limiting questioning of prospective jurors (see, People v. Boulware, 29 N.Y.2d 135, 324 N.Y.S.2d 30, 272 N.E.2d 538, cert. denied 405 U.S. 995, 92 S.Ct. 1269, 31 L.Ed.2d 463).   Since the court itself adequately covered the jurors' obligation to draw no inference from the absence of testimony by a defendant, the court properly limited further inquiry on the same subject (compare, People v. Wongshing, 245 A.D.2d 186, 666 N.Y.S.2d 166, lv. denied 91 N.Y.2d 978, 672 N.Y.S.2d 858, 695 N.E.2d 727, with People v. Porter, 226 A.D.2d 275, 641 N.Y.S.2d 283).   The court did not abuse its discretion in curtailing questioning about the details of jurors' occupational duties.   Defendant's unpreserved complaint about the court's limitation of the prosecutor's voir dire is unavailing.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.