People v. Stevens

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Marcy Kahn, J.), rendered July 7, 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 4V2 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly closed the courtroom during the testimony of the undercover police officers for the purpose of protecting their safety and the integrity of ongoing narcotics operations. As the court noted, the officers were still working actively in the neighborhood where defendant was arrested and felt it…