PEOPLE v. JETER (1998)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael Obus, J.), rendered November 29, 1994, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4 1/212 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

 Closure of the courtroom during the testimony of the undercover officer was justified by his Hinton hearing testimony that he was presently involved in ongoing investigations, that he would be returning in the near future to the precise location where defendant was arrested, and that he had been threatened in the past by subjects of his investigations (see People v. Mensah, 226 A.D.2d 161, 640 N.Y.S.2d 513, lv. denied 88 N.Y.2d 989, 649 N.Y.S.2d 396, 672 N.E.2d 622).   Furthermore, it was defendant's obligation to suggest any alternative procedures (People v. Ayala, 90 N.Y.2d 490, 504, 662 N.Y.S.2d 739, 685 N.E.2d 492, cert. denied 522 U.S. 1002, 118 S.Ct. 574, 139 L.Ed.2d 413), which he failed to do.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.