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People v. Duran

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Oct 2, 2000
276 A.D.2d 498 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)

Opinion

Submitted September 8, 2000

October 2, 2000.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Suffolk County (Weissman, J.), rendered September 22, 1997, convicting him of sexual abuse in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Steven A. Feldman, Roslyn, N.Y., for appellant.

James M. Catterson, Jr., District Attorney, Riverhead, N.Y. (John J. Ribeiro and Sean F. Conroy of counsel), for respondent.

Before: CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, J.P., MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, JJ.


DECISION ORDER

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The trial court providently exercised its discretion in declining to order and review the psychiatric records of the complainant. Psychiatric records "are to be disclosed only when their confidentiality is significantly outweighed by the interests of justice" (People v. Brooks, 199 A.D.2d 275). Prior to ordering and inspecting such records there should be "a showing of a reasonable likelihood that the records might contain material bearing on the reliability and accuracy of the witness's testimony" (People v. Arnold, 177 A.D.2d 633, 634). Here, there was no showing that the complainant's psychiatric records contained material which would bear on the complainant's ability to accurately perceive the incident. In addition, there was no showing that she had a history of paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, or false claims of sexual attack (see generally, People v. Smith, 192 A.D.2d 806, 808).

The tape recording of the emergency telephone conversation was admissible under the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule (see, People v. Simpson, 238 A.D.2d 611).


Summaries of

People v. Duran

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Oct 2, 2000
276 A.D.2d 498 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)
Case details for

People v. Duran

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, ETC., RESPONDENT, v. JUAN DURAN, APPELLANT. (IND. NO. 965/96)

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

Date published: Oct 2, 2000

Citations

276 A.D.2d 498 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)
713 N.Y.S.2d 561

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