People v. Smith

— Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Alfred Kleiman, J.), rendered April 30, 1991, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a violent predicate felony offender, to a term of 3Vi to 7 years, unanimously affirmed.

Contrary to defendant’s contention, a missing witness charge is not a necessary predicate to comment on the failure of a party to produce relevant evidence (People v Zillinger, 179 AD2d 382). The prosecutor’s use of rhetorical questions to note the absence of a central figure in the defense case did not assign an…