PEOPLE v. GATLING (1997)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Desi GATLING, Defendant-Appellant.

Decided: June 10, 1997

Before SULLIVAN, J.P., and ROSENBERGER, ELLERIN, WILLIAMS and MAZZARELLI, JJ.

Tami J. Aisenson, for respondent. Damon L. Preston, for defendant-appellant.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard Carruthers, J.), rendered November 17, 1994, convicting defendant, after a nonjury trial, of two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 4 1/212 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly closed the courtroom during the testimony of two undercover officers, based on the officers' testimony at a Hinton hearing that they were currently and expected in the future to be engaged in undercover operations in the specific area of defendant's arrest, and that they feared for their own safety if their identities were known (People v. Martinez, 82 N.Y.2d 436, 604 N.Y.S.2d 932, 624 N.E.2d 1027). Furthermore, the closure was limited to the extent necessary to protect the officers' safety, defendant's family not being excluded.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.

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