People v. Arias

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ira Beal, J.), rendered May 31, 1995, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 5 to 10 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that the statement of his codefendant was admissible as a declaration against penal interest, since the portion of the statement exculpating defendant was clearly not against the codefendant’s penal interest and was otherwise unreliable (People v Settles, 46 NY2d 154 , 167). Defendants’ remaining arguments regarding this evidence are without merit.

Defendant’s challenge to the court’s charge regarding reasonable doubt is unpreserved and, in any event, without merit since the charge as a whole conveyed the proper standard (see, People v Antommarchi, 80 NY2d 247 , 252).

We perceive no abuse of sentencing discretion. Concur— Milonas, J. P., Wallach, Williams, Tom and Mazzarelli, JJ.