People v Peguero

People v Peguero 2011 NY Slip Op 07489 Decided on October 25, 2011 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on October 25, 2011
Tom, J.P., Saxe, Moskowitz, DeGrasse, Abdus-Salaam, JJ.
5813 2691/07

[*1]The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Avial Peguero, Defendant-Appellant.




Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Martin M.
Lucente of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Marc Weber
of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Roger S. Hayes, J.), rendered July 2, 2008, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fourth degrees, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 1½ years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly exercised its discretion when it admitted expert testimony concerning circumstances that indicate an intent to sell drugs (see People v Hicks, 2 NY3d 750 [2004]). Defendant did not preserve his claim that the expert improperly opined that defendant was a drug seller, and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that the
testimony was within the scope permitted under Hicks, and that defendant was not prejudiced in any event.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: OCTOBER 25, 2011

CLERK