People v Santana

People v Santana 2008 NY Slip Op 01407 [48 AD3d 286] February 14, 2008 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Jose Santana, Appellant.

—[*1] Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York City (Susan Epstein of counsel), for appellant.

Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Karen Swiger of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Margaret Clancy, J.), rendered February 23, 2006, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of five counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 10 to 20 years, unanimously affirmed.

Testimony regarding a narcotics sale by a codefendant in defendant's presence did not deprive defendant of a fair trial. The evidence in question was relevant to a conspiracy count in the indictment that was still pending at that point in the trial, and evidence of the codefendant's conduct was not prejudicial to defendant (see People v Delacruz, 24 AD3d 109 [2005], lv denied 6 NY3d 775 [2006]). Furthermore, the court's limiting instruction was sufficient to prevent any possibility of prejudice.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence. Concur—Andrias, J.P., Friedman, Sweeny and Moskowitz, JJ.