Opinion
May 5, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Alfred Donati, J.).
In its Sandoval ruling, the court properly exercised its discretion in balancing the probative nature of defendant's prior narcotics convictions against the possibility of undue prejudice and appropriately permitted the People to elicit these convictions without revealing that they occurred in close proximity to the instant crime (People v. Torres, 227 A.D.2d 242, lv denied 88 N.Y.2d 996; see also, People v. Pavao, 59 N.Y.2d 282; People v. Rahman, 62 A.D.2d 968, affd 46 N.Y.2d 882). In any event, any error in this respect would have been harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt (see, People v. Williams, 56 N.Y.2d 236).
We perceive no abuse of sentencing discretion.
Concur — Milonas, J.P., Williams, Tom, Andrias and Saxe, JJ.