Opinion
May 26, 1992
Appeal from the County Court, Suffolk County (Weissman, J.).
Ordered that the judgments are affirmed.
The defendant's contention that the People were improperly permitted to impeach their own witness with his prior signed statements to the police and prior sworn testimony given at his plea allocution is not preserved for appellate review as a matter of law (see, CPL 470.05). In any event, there is no indication that the prosecutor called this witness in bad faith with a view towards introducing his otherwise inadmissible prior statements (see, People v. Broomfield, 163 A.D.2d 403; People v Magee, 128 A.D.2d 811). The mere fact that the prosecutor was apparently not surprised by the witness's trial testimony will not support a finding of bad faith (see, People v. De Jesus, 101 A.D.2d 111, 114, affd 64 N.Y.2d 1126). Furthermore, the record demonstrates that the witness's trial testimony tended to affirmatively damage the People's case (see, People v. Mercado, 162 A.D.2d 722). Finally, we note that the trial court clearly instructed the jury on more than one occasion that the witness's prior statements were only to be considered on the question of his credibility.
The defendant's assertion that he was denied the effective assistance of trial counsel is belied by the record, which demonstrates that the defendant received meaningful representation (see, People v. Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137, 147).
We have examined the defendant's remaining contentions and find them to be either unpreserved for appellate review or without merit. Mangano, P.J., Sullivan, Harwood and Pizzuto, JJ., concur.