People v. Kanhai

8 Misc. 3d 447
CourtCriminal Court of the City of New York
DecidedMay 2, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 8 Misc. 3d 447 (People v. Kanhai) 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. Kanhai, 8 Misc. 3d 447 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Deborah Stevens Modica, J.

A bench trial was commenced before me on December 6, 2004 wherein the defendant was charged with one count of driving a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192 (1).

As part of their case-in-chief, the People offered into evidence as business records five exhibits, People’s 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D and 3E, which contain statements of individuals who were not called to testify at trial. Exhibits 3A, 3B and 3C are certified copies of field unit inspection reports of tests conducted by a New York City Police Department (hereinafter NYPD) technician on the Intoxilyzer machine which was used to conduct the breath analysis of the defendant; exhibit 3D is a certified copy of a record of the analysis of the simulator solution lot conducted by the New York State Police Laboratory and used in the breath alcohol test of the defendant; and exhibit 3E is a certified copy of the calibration test conducted by an NYPD technician on the Intoxilyzer machine used in this case.

Citing the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Crawford v Washington (541 US 36 [2004]), the defendant has objected to the introduction of these exhibits, and any testimony concerning them, on the ground that their admission violates the defendant’s right of confrontation as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In essence, the defendant has argued that since he has been denied the opportunity to cross-examine the actual technicians who performed the tests, the documents in question are impermissible hearsay. It is the defendant’s position that the business records exception to the hearsay rule in criminal cases has been eliminated by the Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford. This court has reserved rendition of a verdict in this matter pending further consideration of the defendant’s argument.

In Crawford v Washington, the United States Supreme Court held that it was a violation of an accused’s right to confront witnesses where testimonial evidence is admitted from a presently unavailable witness and there was no prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. Although no comprehensive definition of [449]*449“testimonial” was provided by the Court, it did identify types of evidence that clearly were testimonial in its view, such as statements taken by police officers in the course of interrogations and ex parte testimony at a preliminary hearing, grand jury proceeding, or former trial. (Crawford at 68.) According to the Crawford court, unless it can be shown that the witness is unavailable to testify at trial and that the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness, such out-of-court statements are inadmissible under the Sixth Amendment.

Although a quick answer to this issue in the instant case might be provided by the Crawford court’s brief reference to business records being an historical exception to the rule against hearsay that “by their nature were not testimonial” (id. at 56), the Court’s broadness of language in the case, as well as the Court’s refusal to define “testimonial evidence,” its departure from its own former jurisprudence and its sweeping condemnation of the development of hearsay exceptions, have led to the defendant’s challenge here. (Id.; see also Friedman, Adjusting to Crawford: High Court Decision Restores Confrontation Clause Protection, 19 Crim Just 4, 7 [Summer 2004]; People v Hardy, 4 NY3d 92 [2005]; Perrotta, The Struggle To Define “Testimony” after “Crawford,” NYLJ, June 21, 2004, at 1, col 3.) Each of the exhibits in issue here was offered under the business records exception to the rule against hearsay. Each contains a statement, pursuant to CPLR 4518 (c), that the copy of the record attached is an exact photocopy of the original; that the certifier

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Bluebook (online)
8 Misc. 3d 447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-kanhai-nycrimct-2005.