PEOPLE v. PANTOJAS (2026)

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Margaret L. Clancy, J.), rendered February 8, 2010, as amended March 3, 2010, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of murder in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 25 years to life, unanimously affirmed.

The majority of defendant's challenges to the prosecutor's comments in his summation are unpreserved (see People v. Romero, 7 NY3d 911, 912 [2006] ), and we decline to consider defendant's unpreserved claims in the interest of justice.  As for those claims that are preserved, we agree with defendant that the prosecutor made repeated comments during summation that disregarded the court's directive to refrain from referencing the fact that defendant's sister was not called as a witness.  However, we find that nothing said was so egregious as to have deprived defendant of his right to a fair trial (see People v. D'Alessandro, 184 A.D.2d 114, 118–119 [1st 1992], lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 884 [1993];  see also People v. Lithgow, 171 AD3d 517, 517 [1st Dept 2019], lv denied 33 NY3d 1106 [2019] ), particularly in light of the court's curative instructions and the overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt (see People v. Giles, 188 AD3d 579, 579 [1st Dept 2020], lv denied 36 NY3d 1056 [2021] ).

There is no basis for reduction of sentence.