Opinion
2754.
January 29, 2004. As corrected through Wednesday, March 24, 2004.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Marcy, Kahn, J.), rendered January 30, 2001, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and sentencing him to a term of one year, and judgment, same court (Edward McLaughlin, J.), rendered May 3, 2001, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 4 1/2 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.
Before: Present: Nardelli, J.P., Andrias, Sullivan, Ellerin, and Gonzalez, JJ.
At defendant's second trial (which followed rendition of a partial verdict at the first trial), the court properly admitted evidence of contemporaneous uncharged sales to complete the narrative of the officers' testimony, especially in light of the defense claim that defendant was merely one of the purchasers, and to establish the officers' opportunity to observe defendant and make a reliable identification ( see People v. Carter, 77 N.Y.2d 95, 107, cert denied 499 U.S. 967). Moreover, these contemporaneous sales carried little suggestion of criminal propensity ( see People v. Pressley, 216 A.D.2d 202, lv denied 86 N.Y.2d 800).
We decline to invoke our interest of justice jurisdiction to dismiss the noninclusory concurrent count ( see People v. Spence, 290 A.D.2d 223, lv denied 98 N.Y.2d 641; People v. Kulakov, 278 A.D.2d 519, lv denied 96 N.Y.2d 785).