PEOPLE v. WOODS (2009)

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Feldman, J.), rendered October 18, 2005, convicting him of murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and assault in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

 The defendant's arguments regarding the comments made by the prosecutor during summation are unpreserved for appellate review in light of defense counsel's failure to object to any of the comments (see CPL 470.05 [2] ).   In any event, the comments were within the bounds of permissible rhetoric and were fair comments on the evidence (see People v. Galloway, 54 N.Y.2d 396, 446 N.Y.S.2d 9, 430 N.E.2d 885;  People v. McHarris, 297 A.D.2d 824, 825, 748 N.Y.S.2d 57).   In addition, the jury is presumed to have followed the court's instructions on the elements of the crimes charged and the standards by which to assess the evidence (see People v. Guerrier, 291 A.D.2d 506, 507, 738 N.Y.S.2d 230).

The defendant's contention that he was penalized for going to trial rather than accepting a plea offer is without merit (see People v. Delgado, 80 N.Y.2d 780, 587 N.Y.S.2d 271, 599 N.E.2d 675;  People v. Ramsey, 48 A.D.3d 709, 852 N.Y.S.2d 304;  People v. Evans, 16 A.D.3d 595, 792 N.Y.S.2d 124;  People v. Hinton, 285 A.D.2d 476, 728 N.Y.S.2d 177).

The sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v. Delgado, 80 N.Y.2d 780, 587 N.Y.S.2d 271, 599 N.E.2d 675;  People v. Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80, 455 N.Y.S.2d 675).