Opinion
1300
June 6, 2002.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Arlene Silverman, J.), rendered June 20, 2000, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the first degree and burglary in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a persistent violent felony offender, to concurrent terms of 22 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
DEEPA RAJAN, for Defendant-appellant.
KAREN SCHLOSSBERG, for Respondent.
Tom, J.P., Andrias, Saxe, Ellerin, Wallach, JJ.
The court properly exercised its discretion in denying defendant's request for a mistrial made on the basis of a witness's unsolicited reference to uncharged crimes. The offending testimony was brief and limited, and the court took prompt curative action by immediately striking the testimony and instructing the jury to disregard it (see,People v. Santiago, 52 N.Y.2d 865; People v. Young, 48 N.Y.2d 995). The jury is presumed to have followed the court's instruction, which prevented any prejudice to defendant (People v. Davis, 58 N.Y.2d 1102, 1104).
Defendant's constitutional challenge to the procedure under which he was sentenced as a persistent violent felony offender is unpreserved for appellate review and, in any event, is without merit (see, People v. Rosen, 96 N.Y.2d 329, cert denied U.S. 122 S.Ct. 224).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.