Opinion
2707
December 31, 2002.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (William Leibovitz, J.), rendered December 7, 1999, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him to a term of 3 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.
Beth Beller, for Respondent.
Mark W. Zeno, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before: WILLIAMS, P.J., MAZZARELLI, BUCKLEY, FRIEDMAN, MARLOW, JJ.
The court properly exercised its discretion in precluding, on the ground of remoteness, evidence offered by defendant purporting to show that the officers involved in his arrest may have had a reason for being biased against him (see People v. Thomas, 46 N.Y.2d 100, 105). The proffered evidence involved defendant's interactions with police from the precinct where the arrest occurred. However, all of the officers involved in this case were members of a narcotics unit which, while operating in that precinct (and elsewhere), was a completely separate command. Defendant offered no explanation of how these narcotics officers would have any knowledge of defendant or of his prior altercations with officers from the local precinct. Accordingly, the court's discretionary determination did not violate defendant's right to present a defense (see Crane v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 683, 689-690).
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.