People v. Brighenti

• Decision Date: 31 December 1964
• Citation: People v. Brighenti, 22 A.D.2d 956, 255 N.Y.S.2d 905 (N.Y. App. Div. 1964)
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Benjamin BRIGHENTI and James Eustace, Appellants.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 905

255 N.Y.S.2d 905

22 A.D.2d 956

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Benjamin BRIGHENTI and James Eustace, Appellants.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.

Dec. 31, 1964.

Aaron E. Koota, Acting Dist. Atty., Brooklyn, for respondent People; Stanley M. Meyer, Brooklyn, of counsel.

Nancy Carley, Jackson Heights, for appellants.

Before UGHETTA, Acting P. J., and CHRIST, HILL, RABIN and HOPKINS, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeals by defendants from judgments of the former County Court, Kings County, rendered July 10, 1962 on their pleas of guilty, convicting each of them of robbery in the first degree, unarmed, and imposing sentence.

Defendants contend that the defendant Brighenti's motion to suppress evidence should have been granted. A similar motion by the defendant Eustace was withdrawn, but he urges that, if the judgment as to defendant Brighenti be reversed, then the judgment as to him should also be reversed.

Judgments affirmed as to both defendants.

We have examined defendants' contentions, and we have found no substantial error in the conduct of the hearing on the motion to suppress evidence. More particularly, it is our opinion that, on this record, the defendant Brighenti's absence from the hearing in no way prejudiced his rights. Even if it be assumed that he was entitled to be present at the hearing, his attorney's failure to arrange to have him produced at the hearing constituted an effective waiver of the defendant's...