Opinion
May 1, 1989
Appeal from the County Court, Nassau County (Baker, J.).
Ordered that the sentences are affirmed.
The defendant's only appellate argument is that the terms of imprisonment imposed constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of constitutional proscriptions (NY Const, art I, § 5; US Const 8th Amend). However, this issue is not preserved for our review as a matter of law since no such claim was made before the County Court (see, People v Albano, 124 A.D.2d 739, 740, lv denied 69 N.Y.2d 824). "In any event, ordinarily a sentence that is within statutory limits does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment absent exceptional circumstances" (People v Albano, supra, at 740; see, People v Roberts, 144 A.D.2d 395; People v Medina, 140 A.D.2d 549). A review of the record indicates that there are no exceptional circumstances warranting modification of the sentences imposed. The trial court was aware of the defendant's background, his lack of a prior criminal history, the circumstances of the offenses, the sentences imposed upon some of the codefendants, and the defendant's efforts at rehabilitation during incarceration, before imposing sentences which were less than the maximum permissible terms for class A-II felony offenses. Mangano, J.P., Brown, Lawrence, Kooper and Harwood, JJ., concur.