People v. Bahamonte

Defendant was not deprived of a fair trial by the People’s questioning of their civilian witnesses about their reluctance to testify. Under the circumstances of the case, including defendant’s attacks on the witnesses’ credibility, it was appropriate for the prosecutor to elicit brief, nonprejudicial testimony that the witnesses did not wish to testify (see People v Howard, 7 AD3d 314 [2004], lv denied 3 NY3d 675 [2004]; People v Wortherly, 68 AD2d 158, 163-164 [1979]). Furthermore, the prosecutor had a good faith basis for believing that defendant had tampered with witnesses. Accordingly,…