Opinion
355
February 28, 2002.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Harold Silverman, J.), rendered October 13, 2000, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4½ to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.
Lara R. Binimow for respondent.
Laura I. Appleman for defendant-appellant.
Before: Williams, J.P., Lerner, Buckley, Friedman, Marlow, JJ.
Defendant's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence premised on the fact that part of the transaction occurred in a lobby and therefore did not occur on "school grounds" as defined by Penal Law § 220.00(14) is unpreserved and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. Were we to review this claim, we would find that the People established beyond a reasonable doubt that the drug transaction, viewed as a whole, occurred on school grounds within the meaning of the statute (see, People v. Perez, 277 A.D.2d 1, lv denied 96 N.Y.2d 737).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.