Opinion
August 4, 2005.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Budd G. Goodman, J.), rendered March 19, 2003, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of grand larceny in the fourth degree, and sentencing him, as a persistent felony offender, to a term of 15 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
Before: Tom, J.P., Saxe, Ellerin, Nardelli and Sweeny, JJ.
Defendant's argument that this sentence constituted a penalty for going to trial is unpreserved and unavailing ( see People v. Besser, 96 NY2d 136, 148). The procedure employed in deciding to impose a recidivist sentence is not unconstitutional ( see People v. Rivera, 5 NY3d 61; People v. Rosen, 96 NY2d 329, cert denied 534 US 899), and the court properly exercised its discretion in sentencing defendant as a persistent felony offender.