Opinion
February 17, 2000
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (John Perone, J.), rendered September 11, 1997, 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 8 to 16 years, unanimously modified, as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, to the extent of reducing the sentence to a term of 5 to 10 years, and otherwise affirmed.
Cynthia J. Pree, for Respondent.
Robert E. Carrigan, for Defendant-Appellant.
ROSENBERGER, J.P., WILLIAMS, ELLERIN, SAXE, JJ.
Defendant's Grand Jury testimony was properly received in evidence at trial under the party-admissions exception to the hearsay rule (Richardson, Evidence, § 8-201 [Farrell 11th ed];People v. Jones, 236 A.D.2d 217, lv denied 89 N.Y.2d 1036).
We find the sentence excessive to the extent indicated.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.