Opinion
February 16, 2001.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Edward McLaughlin, J.), rendered November 30, 1998, 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 6 to 12 years, unanimously affirmed.
Anne Schwartz, for respondent.
Jason M. Butler, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Tom, J.P., Andrias, Ellerin, Rubin, Saxe, JJ.,
Considered as a whole, the court's charge on how the jury should conduct its deliberations was sufficiently neutral, balanced and noncoercive (People v. Gonzalez, 262 A.D.2d 211, lv denied 93 N.Y.2d 1018), and never "minimized the importance of careful deliberations" (People v. Brown, A.D.2D , 714 N.Y.S.2d 202, 203), although the preferable course would be to adhere to the standardized Criminal Jury Instructions.
We perceive no basis for reduction of sentence.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION , FIRST DEPARTMENT.