People v. Patterson

273 A.D.2d 144, 709 N.Y.S.2d 559, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7151

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J.), rendered June 26, 1997, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 6 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly sentenced defendant as a second felony offender. During the proceedings concerning defendant’s alleged second felony offender status, there was no dispute that he was convicted under a particular statutory subdivision relating exclusively to cocaine (NC Gen Stat Annot § 90-95 [h] [3]). Therefore, the People were not required to produce the North Carolina accusatory instrument for the purpose of ruling out the possibility that defendant was convicted of a marihuana offense that would not be a felony in New York. The statute in question, as judicially interpreted (see, People v Sailor, 65 NY2d 224, 237, cert denied 474 US 982), contains an element of scienter and is in all other respects the equivalent of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (see, State v Weldon, 314 NC 401, 333 SE2d 701). We have considered and rejected defendant’s remaining contentions. Concur — Williams, J. P., Tom, Lerner, Andrias and Friedman, JJ.