People v. Burgess

The defendant asserts that he was deprived of a fair trial because the procedures set forth in CPL 200.60 were not followed. CPL 200.60 (1) provides that “[w]hen the fact that the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense raises an offense of lower grade to one of higher grade and thereby becomes an element of the latter, an indictment for such higher offense may not allege such previous conviction.” Rather, the underlying crime must be charged in a special information and the defendant must be arraigned on such information outside the presence of the jury (see CPL 200.60 [2],…