People v. Padilla

166 A.D.2d 291, 564 N.Y.S.2d 307, 1990 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12023

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Juanita Bing Newton, J.), rendered November 6, 1987, convicting defendant, after jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 5 to 15 years in prison, unanimously affirmed.

The defendant was arrested as a result of a "buy-and-bust” operation. The "prerecorded buy money” was recovered from the defendant’s person, together with 44 vials of crack cocaine from a pouch defendant dropped as the arresting officer approached him.

It was not an improper delegation of a judicial function for the trial court to direct a court officer to inform the jury that a recess would be longer than anticipated, since the court had previously instructed the jury not to discuss the case amongst themselves when the recess was first taken. (Compare, People v Hernandez, 157 AD2d 472.) The sentence was not excessive in light of the amount of cocaine recovered from this defendant; defendant’s status as an illegal alien, subject to deportation upon serving his sentence, does not warrant a reduction in sentence. Concur—Murphy, P. J., Sullivan, Milonas and Smith, JJ.