People v. Muhammad

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York

People v. Muhammad

17 A.D.3d 139, 791 N.Y.S.2d 828, 2005 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3687

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided April 7, 2005·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (David Stadtmauer, J.), rendered August 5, 2002, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of four years, unanimously affirmed.

The introduction of a nontestifying codefendant’s plea allocution violated Crawford v Washington (541 US 36 [2004]). This evidence was clearly received for its truth with regard to the issue of whether or not a robbery occurred, and the record fails to support the People’s arguments in favor of its admissibility. However, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt (see e.g. People v Hopkins, 13 AD3d 303 [2004]). Without reference to the inadmissible plea allocution, there was overwhelming evidence compelling the conclusion that the incident in question was a robbery, and not an altercation as claimed by defendant. Concur—Tom, J.E, Andrias, Sullivan, Nardelli and Williams, JJ.

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Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (David Stadtmauer, J.), rendered August 5, 2002, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of four years, unanimously affirmed.

The introduction of a nontestifying codefendant’s plea allocution violated Crawford v Washington (541 US 36 [2004]). This evidence was clearly received for its truth with regard to the issue of whether or not a robbery occurred, and the record fails to support the People’s arguments in favor of its admissibility. However, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt (see e.g. People v Hopkins, 13 AD3d 303 [2004]). Without reference to the inadmissible plea allocution, there was overwhelming evidence compelling the conclusion that the incident in question was a robbery, and not an altercation as claimed by defendant. Concur—Tom, J.E, Andrias, Sullivan, Nardelli and Williams, JJ.

People v. Muhammad, 17 A.D.3d 139, 791 N.Y.S.2d 828, 2005 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3687 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2005).

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Opinion

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