Opinion
570520/08.
Decided December 1, 2010.
Defendant appeals from two judgments of the Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County (James M. Burke, J., at plea; Elisa S. Koenderman, J., at sentencing), rendered June 19, 2008, convicting him, upon his pleas of guilty, of two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and imposing sentence.
PRESENT: Hunter, Jr., J.P., McKeon, Shulman, JJ.
Judgments of conviction (James M. Burke, J. at plea; Elisa S. Koenderman, J., at sentencing), rendered June 19, 2008, affirmed.
The factual portion of the accusatory instrument presently challenged by defendant alleged, among other things, that a Port Authority police officer "recovered a pipe containing crack/cocaine residue" from defendant's left hand and that the officer believed the substance was crack/cocaine "based upon his professional training as a police officer in the identification of drugs and his prior experience as a police officer in drug arrests." Even accepting defendant's contention that the sufficiency of the accusatory instrument should be evaluated under the standards that apply to a misdemeanor information — despite his on the record waiver of the right to be prosecuted by an information ( see People v Kalin, 12 NY3d 225) — we find that the factual allegations set forth in the accusatory instrument were sufficient for pleading purposes to establish both reasonable cause to believe that defendant committed the offense of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree and a prima facie case of defendant's commission thereof ( see id.; see also People v Mizell, 72 NY2d 651).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
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