PEOPLE, res, v. STEPHEN BROWN, def-ap

3139-3140. PEOPLE, res, v. STEPHEN BROWN, def-ap — Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Katheryne M. Martone of counsel), for ap — Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Brian R. Pouliot of counsel), for res — Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Michael R. Sonberg, J. at suppression hearing and self-representation colloquy; Bruce Allen, J. at plea and sentencing), rendered July 19, 2012, convicting defendant of eight counts of robbery in the first degree, and sentencing him, as a persistent violent felony offender, to concurrent terms of 20 years to life, unanimously affirmed.

When defendant indicated, during the allocution on one of the eight counts of first-degree robbery to which he pleaded guilty, that he “simulated” a firearm, he did not negate any element of the crime or cast any doubt on his guilt. Accordingly, his claim that the court should have inquired into the possibility of an affirmative defense (see Penal Law 160.15[4]) is not exempt from the preservation requirement (see People v. Toxey, 86 NY2d 725 [1995]; People v. Lopez, 71 NY2d 662, 666 [1988]; People v. Wallace, 247 AD2d 257 [1st Dept 1998]). We decline to review this unpreserved claim in the interest of justice. Defendant was faced with the potential for multiple consecutive life sentences as a persistent violent felony offender, even if convicted of a lesser degree of robbery on one or more of the counts.