Opinion
7936.
February 23, 2006.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J.), rendered August 4, 2004, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a persistent violent felony offender, to a term of 16 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Carol A. Zeldin of counsel), for appellant.
Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York (Tracy L. Conn of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Andrias, J.P., Saxe, Friedman, Williams and Malone, JJ.
Defendant's constitutional challenge to the procedure under which he was sentenced as a persistent violent felony offender is unpreserved for appellate review and, in any event, is without merit ( see People v. Rosen, 96 NY2d 329, cert denied 534 US 899). Defendant's mandatory sentence as a persistent violent felony offender was triggered solely by his prior convictions ( see Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 US 224).