Opinion
February 10, 2000
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Harold Silverman, J.), rendered June 26, 1997, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of rape in the first degree (two counts) and sodomy in the first degree (two counts), and sentencing him to four concurrent terms of 7 to 21 years, unanimously affirmed.
Ashley G. Marsh for the Respondent.
Barbara Zolot for the Defendant-Appellant.
SULLIVAN, J.P., NARDELLI, TOM, LERNER, ANDRIAS, JJ.
The record establishes that, after a query from the court and a conference between defendant and his counsel, defendant, through counsel, knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to be present at robing room conferences with prospective jurors (see, People v. Keen, 252 A.D.2d 278). We find no evidence of ambiguity or confusion as to the nature and scope of the right being waived.
Defendant's argument at trial that the verdict sheet should contain no annotations whatsoever, an argument rendered meritless by the recent amendment to CPL 310.20(2) authorizing certain annotations, did not suffice to preserve his present claims concerning the annotated verdict sheet and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would find that the statute's authorization of annotations consisting of "specific statutory language" does not require that the pertinent Penal Law provisions be set forth in their entirety, and we find no basis for reversal.
The court properly granted the People's application to amend the factual allegations in the counts charging sodomy in the first degree. Since the pre-amendment counts were legally sufficient (see, People v. Jackson, 46 N.Y.2d 721), there was no violation ofCPL 200.70(2)(b) , which prohibits amendment of an indictment for the purpose of curing legal insufficiency.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.