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People v. Johnson

278 A.D.2d 68 Court N.Y. App. Div. Decision date 2000-12-12 English

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p. 68
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Desmond Johnson, Also Known as Desmond Jackson, Appellant.
[718 NYS2d 26]

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Rena Uviller, J., at suppression hearing; Bernard Fried, J., at jury trial and sentence), rendered May 4, 1998, convicting defendant of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of AVz to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

p. 69
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. There is no basis upon which to disturb the jury’s determinations concerning credibility. Defendant’s accessorial liability was clearly established by evidence that defendant initiated a conversation with the undercover officer, asked the amount of drugs the officer desired, requested and received the buy money, and handed it over to his accomplice.

The court properly permitted the same officer to testify as both a fact witness and expert witness (People v Lamboy, 228 AD2d 366 , lv denied 88 NY2d 988 ).

Defendant’s suppression motion was properly denied. Defendant was lawfully arrested on the basis of a sufficiently specific description, and there was no necessity for the undercover officer’s radio transmission to spell out defendant’s role in the sale (People v Acevedo, 179 AD2d 465 , lv denied 79 NY2d 996 ).

Defendant’s claim that "his motions for release from pretrial custody made pursuant to CPL 30.30 (2) were improperly denied is moot (People ex rel. Chakwin v Warden, 63 NY2d 120 ).

Defendant’s remaining contentions are unpreserved and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review these claims, we would reject them. Concur — Nardelli, J. P., Mazzarelli, Lerner, Buckley and Friedman, JJ.

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