Opinion
November 19, 1993
Appeal from the Chautauqua County Court, Adams, J.
Present — Denman, P.J., Balio, Lawton, Doerr and Boehm, JJ.
Order unanimously reversed on the law, indictment reinstated and matter remitted to Chautauqua County Court for further proceedings on indictment. Memorandum: County Court improperly dismissed the indictment against defendant. The sufficiency of the proof offered before the Grand Jury depended upon the testimony of two infants, aged eight and nine. To rebut the presumption of their incompetence to testify (see, CPL 60.20), the prosecutor was required to demonstrate that the infants, "at a minimum, [had] `some conception' of the obligations of an oath and the consequences of giving false testimony. (People v Washor, 196 N.Y. 104, 109.)" (People v Parks, 41 N.Y.2d 36, 46; see also, People v Nisoff, 36 N.Y.2d 560, 565-566.) That presumption was rebutted because the two infant witnesses demonstrated that they knew and appreciated the difference between truth and falsehood, knew that it was wrong to tell a lie, and knew the consequences of telling a lie (see, People v Parks, supra; People v Nisoff, supra; People v Green, 181 A.D.2d 1041, lv denied 79 N.Y.2d 1049).