Opinion
September 29, 2000.
Appeal from Judgment of Niagara County Court, Fricano, J. — Criminal Sale Controlled Substance, 3rd Degree.)
PRESENT : GREEN, J. P., PINE, HAYES, HURLBUTT AND KEHOE, JJ.
Judgment unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum:
We reject defendant's contention that County Court erred in admitting the cocaine in evidence at trial because of deficiencies in the chain of custody. "Deficiencies in the chain of custody of property go to the weight rather than the admissibility of that evidence, as long as the requirements of proof of identity and unchanged condition are met" ( People v. Caldwell, 221 A.D.2d 972, 973, lv denied 87 N.Y.2d 920; see, People v. Julian, 41 N.Y.2d 340, 343; People v. Cleveland, 273 A.D.2d 787 [decided June 16, 2000]). The cocaine was properly admitted where, as here, the trial testimony provided adequate assurances that the cocaine taken from defendant was the same as that analyzed by the police laboratory and that no tampering had occurred ( see, People v. Cleveland, supra; People v. Jimenez, 233 A.D.2d 465, lv denied 89 N.Y.2d 924; People v. Caldwell, supra, at 973). The sentence is neither unduly harsh nor severe.