Opinion
Submitted March 15, 2001.
April 5, 2001.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Marrus, J.), rendered February 17, 1998, convicting him of rape in the second degree and sodomy in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
M. Sue Wycoff, New York, N.Y. (Bertrand J. Kahn of counsel), for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove and Anthea H. Bruffee of counsel), for respondent.
Before: FRED T. SANTUCCI, J.P., SONDRA MILLER, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant contends that his convictions for rape in the second degree and sodomy in the second degree violated due process because he could not assert as a defense that he did not know that the complainant was less than 14 years old. However, the defendant failed to preserve this contention for appellate review (see, People v. Iannelli, 69 N.Y.2d 684; People v. Dozier, 52 N.Y.2d 781). In any event, the defendant's convictions for rape in the second degree and sodomy in the second degree do not violate due process notwithstanding the defendant's reasonable belief that the complainant was over 14 years old (see, United States v. Balint, 258 U.S. 250; People v. Dozier, 72 A.D.2d 478, 485-486, affd 52 N.Y.2d 781, supra; cf., People v. Washington, 156 A.D.2d 496).