Opinion
September 28, 1993
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Harold Rothwax, J.).
We perceive no abuse of discretion in closing the courtroom to the public based on the undercover officer's expression of fear that his own safety and pending undercover investigations would be jeopardized (see, People v Brown, 178 A.D.2d 280, lv denied 79 N.Y.2d 918). We find the sentence to be excessive for a sale of such a small amount of crack cocaine to an undercover police officer (see, People v Cowell, 170 A.D.2d 343, lv denied 77 N.Y.2d 993). The sentence we impose instead takes into account defendant's criminal history of both petit larceny and attempted robbery, and we note that the prosecutor himself requested a lesser sentence than that imposed by the trial court.
Concur — Murphy, P.J., Wallach, Kupferman and Ross, JJ.