People v. Nash

30 A.D.3d 1137, 815 N.Y.S.2d 460

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: June 6, 2006
• Status: Published

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Daniel P FitzGerald, J.), rendered December 9, 2004, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of two counts of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a persistent violent felony offender, to concurrent terms of 20 years to life, unanimously affirmed.

The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. There is no basis for disturbing the jury’s determinations concerning credibility (see People v Gaimari, 176 NY 84, 94 [1903]).

Defendant’s constitutional challenge to the procedure under which he was sentenced as a persistent violent felony offender is unpreserved for appellate review and, in any event, is without merit (see People v Rosen, 96 NY2d 329 [2001], cert denied 534 US 899 [2001]). Defendant’s mandatory sentence as a persistent violent felony offender was based entirely on his prior convictions (see Almendarez-Torres v United States, 523 US 224 [1998]).

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.

We have considered and rejected the claims contained in defendant’s pro se supplemental brief. Concur—Tom, J.P, Marlow, Gonzalez, Sweeny and Catterson, JJ.