Opinion
December 28, 2000.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Denis Boyle, J.), rendered February 17, 1999, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 7 to 14 years, unanimously affirmed.
David S. Weisel, for respondent.
Robert S. Dean, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Tom, J.P., Ellerin, Rubin, Saxe, Buckley, JJ.
The prosecutor's brief elicitation of the racial composition of the police backup team, while irrelevant, did not have the effect of interjecting improper racial considerations or promoting racial prejudice against defendant (see, People v. Dominguez, 275 A.D.2d 468, 713 N.Y.S.2d 129, People v. Ali, 158 A.D.2d 460, lv denied 76 N.Y.2d 784, compare, People v. Alexander, 94 N.Y.2d 382), particularly since the prosecutor was proscribed from making any reference to this evidence in summation.
We perceive no basis for reduction of sentence in this case where defendant was subject to sentencing as a persistent felony offender.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.