Opinion
No. 9727.
December 5, 2006.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Daniel P. FitzGerald, J.), rendered January 6, 2005, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and seventh degrees, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 6 to 12 years and 1 year, respectively, unanimously affirmed.
STEVEN BANKS, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Natalie Rea of counsel), for appellant.
ROBERT M. MORGENTHAU, District Attorney, New York (Sheila O'Shea of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Andrias, J.P., Saxe, Nardelli, Sweeny and McGuire, JJ.
The court properly admitted $187 recovered from defendant at the time of his arrest because this evidence was relevant to intent to sell, an essential element of several of the charges in the indictment ( see e.g. People v Nieves, 290 AD2d 371). Although defendant asserts on appeal that intent to sell was not at issue on trial, defendant never conceded this element, and he raised the issue in summation ( see People v Robinson, 93 NY2d 986). Moreover, even if defendant had expressly conceded that element, his concession would not necessarily have precluded the People from introducing this evidence ( see People v Hills, 140 AD2d 71, 77-81, lv denied 73 NY2d 855; cf. Old Chief v United States, 519 US 172).
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.