Defendant was not deprived of a fair trial by questions briefly mentioning his pretrial silence, which were relevant to his relationship to an accomplice who testified at trial that defendant was an uninvolved bystander, or by questions to the accomplice about a prior bad act, jointly committed by the witness and defendant, where the purpose of questioning was to impeach the credibility of the witness. In a nonjury trial, the fact finder is deemed "`uniquely capable of distinguishing the issues and of making an objective determination' based upon appropriate legal criteria, despite awareness of facts which cannot properly be relied upon in making the decision" ( People v. Moreno, 70 N.Y.2d 403, 406, quoting People v. Brown, 24 N.Y.2d 168, 172; see also, People v. D'Abate, 37 N.Y.2d 922, 923; People v. Bonilla, 200 A.D.2d 369, lv denied 83 N.Y.2d 849).
Concur — Milonas, J.P., Wallach, Tom, Mazzarelli and Saxe, JJ.