Opinion
February 14, 2000.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Rockland County (Nelson, J.), rendered June 2, 1998, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence.
PRESENT: O'BRIEN, J.P., ALTMAN, FRIEDMANN, McGINITY AND SMITH, JJ.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The County Court did not err in sentencing the defendant as a second felony offender. The People satisfied their burden at the predicate felony hearing by establishing beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of the defendant's December 5, 1989, prior felony conviction. The burden then shifted to the defendant to prove that the prior conviction was unconstitutionally obtained ( see, CPL 400.21; People v. Harris, 61 N.Y.2d 9, 15).
The evidence presented by the defendant failed to establish that his right to counsel was violated at the sentencing on the prior conviction.