People v. Faulk

—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Westchester County (Murphy, J.), rendered June 27, 1996, convicting him of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, and unlawful possession of marihuana, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see, People v Contes, 60 NY2d 620 ), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant’s guilt beyond a

Additionally, a witness can invoke his privilege against self-incrimination when the failure to do so would subject him to a real possibility of criminal prosecution (see, United States v Miranti, 253 F2d 135 ; People v Ciraulo, 40 AD2d 834 ). Further, the witness is generally the best judge of whether an answer may tend to be incriminating, though the witness may be required to establish a factual predicate where the danger of incrimination is not readily apparent (see, People v Arroyo, 46 NY2d 928 ; State of New York v Carey Resources, 97 AD2d 508 ). Here, the trial court correctly allowed a potential defense witness to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to testify, as the danger of incrimination was readily apparent.

The defendant’s sentence was not excessive (see, People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80 ).

The defendant’s remaining contentions are either unpreserved for appellate review or without merit. Ritter, «L P., Thompson, Pizzuto and McGinity, JJ., concur.