Opinion
June 22, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Bruce Allen, J.).
The undercover officers' Hinton hearing testimony "established the necessary spatial and temporal relationship among the courthouse, the location of defendant's arrest, and the anticipated geographic location of [their] future investigative work" to warrant closure of the courtroom ( People v. Brown, 214 A.D.2d 438, 439). Both of the undercover officers were involved in ongoing long-term investigations in which some of the buy subjects had not yet been arrested, they continued to participate in "buy and bust operations" within the territory covered by Manhattan North Narcotics Division, which included the area north of 59th Street in Manhattan and encompassed the sales location, and both had pending cases from prior arrests.
We have considered defendant's other contentions and find them to be without merit.
Concur — Rosenberger, J.P., Ellerin, Kupferman, Tom and Mazzarelli, JJ.