Opinion
Argued January 20, 2000
February 28, 2000
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Leach, J.), rendered July 13, 1998, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (David P. Greenberg of counsel), for appellant.
Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano, Nicoletta J. Caferri, David L. Bendik, and Matthew Schechter of counsel), for respondent.
FRED T. SANTUCCI, J.P., MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, GLORIA GOLDSTEIN, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed
The defendant correctly asserts that the undercover police officer's expert opinion as to how the defendant rid himself of the buy money was improper, as it was not based on either evidence in the record or his personal knowledge (see, Cassano v. Hagstrom, 5 N.Y.2d 643 ). However, in light of the fact that the evidence against the defendant was otherwise overwhelming, and there is no significant probablility that the defendant would have been acquitted if not for the error in permitting the testimony, the error was harmless (see, People v. Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 230 ).