Opinion
October 18, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Juanita Bing Newton, J.).
The defendant was arrested as a result of a "buy-and-bust" operation. The "prerecorded buy money" was recovered from the defendant's person, together with 44 vials of crack cocaine from a pouch defendant dropped as the arresting officer approached him.
It was not an improper delegation of a judicial function for the trial court to direct a court officer to inform the jury that a recess would be longer than anticipated, since the court had previously instructed the jury not to discuss the case amongst themselves when the recess was first taken. (Compare, People v Hernandez, 157 A.D.2d 472.) The sentence was not excessive in light of the amount of cocaine recovered from this defendant; defendant's status as an illegal alien, subject to deportation upon serving his sentence, does not warrant a reduction in sentence.
Concur — Murphy, P.J., Sullivan, Milonas and Smith, JJ.