People v Morris, 2016 NY Slip Op 08183 [145 AD3d 474]

December 6, 2016

Appellate Division, First Department

[*1]

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Tasheem Morris, Appellant.

Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Allen Fallek of counsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Andrew E. Seewald of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Daniel P. Conviser, J.), rendered April 29, 2014, as amended June 12, 2014, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 20 years to life, unanimously affirmed.

Even though the court should have excluded evidence that, during a phone conversation shortly before the homicide, the victim told his brother that defendant had stared at him, causing him to fear that something bad was going to happen, the error was harmless ( see People v Crimmins , 36 NY2d 230 [1975]). There was overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt, and other evidence established both the fact of the “staring” incident and the antagonism between defendant and the victim that provided a motive for the crime.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Richter, J.P., Manzanet-Daniels, Feinman, Kapnick and Gesmer, JJ..