PEOPLE v. RODRIGUEZ (2006)

Judgment of resentence, Supreme Court, New York County (James A. Yates, J.), rendered November 3, 2005, resentencing defendant, upon his conviction, after a nonjury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, as a second felony offender, to a term of 12 years, unanimously affirmed.

 Defendant was resentenced, pursuant to the Drug Law Reform Act (L. 2004, ch. 738), from a term of 15 years to life to a term of 12 years on his first-degree drug possession conviction.   His argument that his conviction should be reduced to second-degree possession is without merit (People v. Quinones, 22 A.D.3d 218, 801 N.Y.S.2d 595 [2005], lv. denied 6 N.Y.3d 817, 812 N.Y.S.2d 456, 845 N.E.2d 1287 [2006];  People v. Nelson, 21 A.D.3d 861, 804 N.Y.S.2d 1 [2005], lv. granted 6 N.Y.3d 757, 810 N.Y.S.2d 425, 843 N.E.2d 1165 [2005] ).   Defendant's constitutional challenge to the procedure under which he was sentenced as a second felony offender is also without merit (Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 [1998] ).