People v. Williams

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum .

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

We have repeatedly held that the extent to which the prosecution may use prior convictions to impeach a defendant’s testimony “is ‘largely, if not completely’ a discretionary determination for the trial courts and fact-reviewing intermediate appellate courts, and that generally no further review by this Court is warranted” (People v Mattiace, 77 NY2d 269, 274 [1990], quoting People v Shields, 46 NY2d 764, 765 [1978]). Here, Supreme Court’s Sandoval ruling (People v Sandoval, 34 NY2d 371 [1974]) permitted…