Opinion
1138
May 13, 2003.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Robert Seewald, J.), rendered January 28, 2002, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4½ to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.
Allen H. Saperstein, for respondent.
Bonnie C. Brennan, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Buckley, P.J., Andrias, Saxe, Lerner, Marlow, JJ.
The court properly exercised its discretion in allowing brief, limited and non-prejudicial expert testimony concerning the roles of participants in street-level drug operations. This evidence was properly admitted to assist the jury in understanding the fact that the police did not recover drugs from defendant (see People v. Brown, 97 N.Y.2d 500, 506-507; see also People v. Lacey, 245 A.D.2d 145, lv denied 91 N.Y.2d 927).
The court also properly exercised its discretion in admitting an arrest photograph of another participant in the sale, who was not on trial, as well as testimony concerning the identification of that person by the undercover officer, since this evidence was relevant to issues raised by defendant (see People v. Mosley, 282 A.D.2d 314, lv denied 96 N.Y.2d 904).
Defendant's remaining contentions are unpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would reject them.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.