Opinion
May 24, 2001.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Nicholas Iacovetta, J.), rendered September 10, 1998, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 5 to 10 years, unanimously affirmed.
Lara R. Binimow, for respondent.
Kaelin Akohonae, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Rosenberger, J.P., Andrias, Rubin, Buckley, Marlow, JJ.
The court's Sandoval ruling balanced the appropriate factors and was a proper exercise of discretion (see, People v. Walker, 83 N.Y.2d 455, 458-459). Defendant's prior rape conviction was probative of his willingness to place his individual self-interest ahead of the interest of society (see, People v. Bennette, 56 N.Y.2d 142, 147), and the court prevented undue prejudice by precluding reference to the underlying facts. The conviction was not excessively remote given defendant's incarceration during a substantial portion of the intervening years (see, People v. Joyner, 270 A.D.2d 100, lv denied 94 N.Y.2d 949).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.