Opinion
2011-10-25
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,v.Avial PEGUERO, Defendant–Appellant.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Martin M. Lucente of counsel), for appellant.Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Marc Weber of counsel), for respondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Roger S. Hayes, J.), rendered July 2, 2008, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fourth degrees, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 1 1/2 years, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly exercised its discretion when it admitted expert testimony concerning circumstances that indicate an intent to sell drugs ( see People v. Hicks, 2 N.Y.3d 750, 778 N.Y.S.2d 745, 811 N.E.2d 7 [2004] ). Defendant did not preserve his claim that the expert improperly opined that defendant was a drug seller, and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find that the testimony was within the scope permitted under Hicks, and that defendant was not prejudiced in any event.
TOM, J.P., SAXE, MOSKOWITZ, DeGRASSE, ABDUS–SALAAM, JJ., concur.