People v Vergara

People v Vergara 2007 NY Slip Op 08286 [45 AD3d 272] November 1, 2007 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Wilfredo Vergara, Appellant.

—[*1] Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York City (Jonathan M. Kirshbaum of counsel), for appellant.

Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Lawrence H. Cunningham of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Megan Tallmer, J.), rendered March 2, 2006, 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 9 to 18 years, unanimously affirmed.

The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence. Defendant's course of conduct warrants the conclusion that he was a participant in the drug transaction, whose role included bringing a customer to a seller, specifying the price, accepting payment, and taking an order (see People v Bello, 92 NY2d 523 [1998]).

The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's mistrial motion, made on the basis of the prosecutor's summation. The challenged remarks constituted fair comment on the evidence, made within the bounds of permissible advocacy, and were responsive to defense arguments (see People v Overlee, 236 AD2d 133 [1997], lv denied 91 NY2d 976 [1998]; People v D'Alessandro, 184 AD2d 114, 118-119 [1992], lv denied 81 NY2d 884 [1993]).

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Tom, J.P., Saxe, Sullivan, Gonzalez and Sweeny, JJ.