People v. Dillard

Apr 28, 1995
Versions:214 A.D.2d 1028
627 N.Y.S.2d 184
1995 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6790

Order unanimously reversed on the law, motion denied, indictment reinstated and matter remitted to Monroe County Court for further proceedings on the indictment. Memorandum: County Court erred in dismissing the indictment. The surviving victim testified before the Grand Jury that he and his cousin were shot by a man whom he had identified at the preliminary hearing as defendant. A witness to the shooting also testified that defendant was the perpetrator. The People presented the records of the medical examiner showing that the surviving victim’s cousin died from a gunshot wound to the chest. That evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the People, is legally sufficient to support the indictment (see, People v Jennings, 69 NY2d 103, 114-116; People v Deegan, 69 NY2d 976, 978-979). The prosecutor’s failure to present exculpatory evidence that the surviving victim had not identified defendant from a photographic array and that the witness had recanted his earlier statement that defendant was the perpetrator does not render the Grand Jury proceeding defective (see, People v Morris, 204 AD2d 973, lv denied 83 NY2d 1005; see also, People v Mitchell, 82 NY2d 509, 515). Such evidence merely relates to credibility, a collateral issue that generally does not materially influence a Grand Jury investigation (see, People v Perry, 187 AD2d 678, lv denied 81 NY2d 891; People v Kaba, 177 AD2d 506, 508, lv denied 79 NY2d 859). (Appeal from Order of Monroe County Court, Maloy, J.—Dismiss Indictment.) Present—Green, J. P., Lawton, Fallon, Callahan and Boehm, JJ.