Opinion
January 17, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Mary McGowan Davis, J.).
The People met their burden of proving that defendant's statement to the complainant, "take your money", was spontaneous and, although uttered in the presence of police officers, was not the result of police custodial interrogation or its equivalent (see, People v. Rivers, 56 N.Y.2d 476). Defendant's other spontaneous statement to the complainant in the course of this encounter, "brother, brother, please don't let them lock me up", was not subject to the disclosure requirements of CPL 710.30 because it too was not made to a public servant, and even if it were "arguable" that it was (see, People v. Brown, 140 A.D.2d 266, 270, lv denied 72 N.Y.2d 955), any error in admitting it was harmless in view of the overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt (supra).
Concur — Ellerin, J.P., Kupferman, Asch and Rubin, JJ.