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Matter of Kenneth

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Mar 30, 1987
128 A.D.2d 881 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987)

Opinion

March 30, 1987

Appeal from the Family Court, Queens County (Ambrosio, J., Corrado, J.).


Ordered that the order of disposition is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

Family Court Act § 330.2 and CPL 710.30 (1) require, inter alia, that the presentment agency inform a juvenile whenever it intends to offer against him testimony "regarding an observation of the [juvenile] either at the time or place of the commission of the offense or upon some other occasion relevant to the case, to be given by a witness who has previously identified him" (CPL 710.30). This notice requirement applies only in those cases where the previous identification was one arranged by the police for the purpose of establishing the identity of the criminal actor (see, e.g., People v. Berkowitz, 50 N.Y.2d 333, 338, n 1; People v. Gissendanner, 48 N.Y.2d 543, 552).

The appellant argues here that the adjudication of his delinquency should be reversed on the ground, inter alia, that the Family Court, upon determining that he was not given notice under the statutes, only partially granted his motion to preclude, that is, the court precluded the presentment agency from offering any testimony of a police-arranged identification procedure but specifically permitted the introduction of identification testimony not predicated upon the police procedure. If notice had been required, the court would have been incorrect since the statute mandates the exclusion of all identification testimony to be given by such a witness (see, e.g., People v. McKeever, 104 A.D.2d 608; People v. Williams, 77 A.D.2d 579). Nevertheless, we find that reversal is not warranted here.

A voir dire conducted during the fact-finding hearing established that in this case there was no police-arranged confrontation for the purpose of establishing the identity of the perpetrator (see, People v. Berkowitz, 50 N.Y.2d 333, 338, supra; People v. Gissendanner, 48 N.Y.2d 543, 552, supra). It appears that the day after the robbery, the complainant saw the appellant on the street, flagged down a police car and identified the appellant to the officers as the person who had forcibly taken his bicycle. The appellant was then held until officers from the unit which investigates past robberies arrived to make the arrest. Upon their arrival, one of these officers asked the complainant if the appellant, then being held in a police car, was the perpetrator, and the complainant responded affirmatively. This was not a showup or a police-arranged identification procedure within the intendment of the statute, and, therefore, the appellant was not entitled to notice. The purpose of the statute, to provide protection against improper police identification procedures, would in no way be advanced by its application to the facts of this case. Therefore, the admission of the complainant's in-court identification of the appellant was properly received.

We have considered the appellant's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Mangano, J.P., Rubin, Kooper and Harwood, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Matter of Kenneth

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Mar 30, 1987
128 A.D.2d 881 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987)
Case details for

Matter of Kenneth

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of KENNETH S., Appellant

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Mar 30, 1987

Citations

128 A.D.2d 881 (N.Y. App. Div. 1987)

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