People v. Lippolis

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Rutledge, J.), rendered August 1, 1996, convicting him of robbery in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law and as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and a new trial is ordered.

In his opening statement, the prosecutor, among other things, improperly referred to the defendant as a “parasite” (see, People v Rivera, 56 AD2d 897), and told the jury that “citizens like [them] selves indicted this defendant” (see, People v Logan, 221…