People v. Smalls

275 A.D.2d 645, 713 N.Y.S.2d 179, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10034

Opinion

—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Budd Goodman, J.), rendered April 15, 1999, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4V2 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

Contrary to defendant’s contention, the trial court, in its Sandoval ruling, properly balanced the probative value of defendant’s 1992 conviction for attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree against its potential for undue prejudice (see, People v Pena, 251 AD2d 26, 35, lv denied 92 NY2d 929).

Also proper under the circumstances was the trial court’s posting of a court officer outside the courtroom door with instructions to notify the court if anyone wished to enter. Such screening of potential spectators did not constitute a closure of the courtroom (People v Carillo, 267 AD2d 43). Concur — Lerner, J. P., Andrias, Saxe, Buckley and Friedman, JJ.