Opinion
2359
November 26, 2002.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Laura Visitacion-Lewis, J.), rendered May 3, 2000, convicting defendant, after a non-jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to an aggregate term of 4½ to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.
DAVID AARON, for respondent.
ROBERT S. DEAN, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Rosenberger, Rubin, Gonzalez, JJ.
The court's verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. The People disproved defendant's agency defense beyond a reasonable doubt (see People v. Herring, 83 N.Y.2d 780). The evidence, viewed as a whole, clearly warranted the conclusion that defendant was a participant in the drug-selling operation and had a working relationship with the other participant. Moreover, "there was no evidence that defendant had any other reason to risk arrest by assisting a total stranger in purchasing drugs" (People v. Elvy, 277 A.D.2d 80, lv denied 96 N.Y.2d 783). There is no basis for disturbing the court's determinations concerning the undercover officer's credibility.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.