People v. Cachoian

135 Misc. 2d 1116, 517 N.Y.S.2d 362, 1987 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2362
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedMay 20, 1987
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 135 Misc. 2d 1116 (People v. Cachoian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Criminal Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Cachoian, 135 Misc. 2d 1116, 517 N.Y.S.2d 362, 1987 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2362 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Alfred Donati, J.

Defendant Gerald Cachoiari was arrested on August 26, 1986, and charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree (Penal Law § 265.01 [1]) and criminal impersonation in the second degree (Penal Law § 190.25 [1]). Defendant moved to suppress physical evidence seized by, and oral statements made to, law enforcement officials and the court ordered a combined Mapp/Huntley hearing.

The matter was referred to me on March 2, 1987 for the ordered Mapp/Huntley hearing, at which time defense counsel advised that he was ready for the hearing except that the People had not provided (as required, on various grounds according to the defense) a transcript of the 911 call to police communications headquarters which originated this matter (the 911 tape). The People claimed production of the 911 tape was not required. In the course of that oral argument it developed that the 911 tape was no longer available and that, indeed, it had been destroyed (it appears from the memoranda submitted by both sides that the destruction of the 911 tape was made in the normal course of police procedure when its specific preservation had not been requested within the prescribed time period).

In addition to the foregoing, defendant contended that he was entitled to have the People produce at the hearing for defense cross-examination, on the issue of probable cause, the 911 police operator who transmitted, by radio, the information received on the 911 telephone call (the "sender” of the "911 transmission” or "radio run”) to the police officers involved in defendant’s arrest in this case; the defense also indicated it could be entitled to have the People produce at the hearing the original caller (or "informant”) to the 911 operator, all of which the People opposed.

Under the foregoing circumstances, the court directed both sides to submit memoranda of law as to the issues raised and continued the hearing until its decision on those issues, which is set forth hereinafter.

[1118]*1118BACKGROUND

Defendant acknowledges that the parties entered into a voluntary disclosure agreement (VDA) on November 18, 1986, in which, in return for defendant’s promise to refrain from engaging in formal discovery motion practice as prescribed by CPL article 240, the People agreed to furnish the defendant with: (1) the substance of oral statements of defendant, data relating to identification of defendant, and acknowledgment of the People’s duty under Brady; (2) all items contained in CPL 240.20 which exist in the case; (3) arrest and complaint reports and certain other documentary material, and (4) pertinent medical records. The VDA gives the defendant the benefit of items he might not ordinarily be entitled to under CPL article 240 and CPL 200.95. But the VDA does not provide for routine ordering, or production, of a 911 tape or radio run. The minutes of the proceedings on that date show that among other items requested by the defense was the "sprint 911 printout”.

The People thereafter provided the 911 "Incident Record Listing by Job Number”, the so-called sprint report or sprint printout containing, as defense counsel acknowledges "a summary of the radio run”, that is, a summary of the transmission from the 911 operator to the arresting police officers, which the defense claims, as indicated above, does not satisfy the People’s alleged requirement to produce the 911 tape. (No claim is made by the defense that the People failed to comply with the voluntary disclosure agreement in any other respect.) Defendant now urges that because the "sprint” provided is merely a summary of the taped conversation between the 911 caller and the 911 dispatcher, the destruction of the 911 tape may have resulted in the destruction of potential Rosario and Brady

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Related

People v. Cortez
149 Misc. 2d 886 (Criminal Court of the City of New York, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
135 Misc. 2d 1116, 517 N.Y.S.2d 362, 1987 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cachoian-nycrimct-1987.