People v. Johnson

Decision Date22 May 2000
Citation272 A.D.2d 555,709 N.Y.S.2d 96
PartiesTHE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent,<BR>v.<BR>MARK JOHNSON, Appellant.
CourtNew York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Thompson, J. P., Friedmann, Florio and Smith, JJ., concur.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

On August 28, 1996, the complainant was robbed in the vicinity of Flushing and Irving Avenues in Brooklyn. Within a short time thereafter, the complainant flagged down a police vehicle at that intersection. According to the testimony of the police, the complainant was "nervous", "shocked", "a little shaken up", and "stuttering". He immediately told the police that he had just been robbed at gunpoint, and that his jewelry had been taken. Within moments of these statements, the complainant gave the police a physical description of his assailant. The prosecution moved, in limine, to introduce these statements as excited utterances, and the trial court admitted them over the defendant's objection.

Contrary to the defendant's contention, the trial court properly admitted the statements under the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule (see, People v Cotto, 92 NY2d 68; People v Vasquez, 88 NY2d 561). The delay between the robbery and the declarations to the police was not sufficient to destroy the indicia of reliability upon which this hearsay exception rests (see, People v Vasquez, supra; People v Brown, 70 NY2d 513). Furthermore, the unavailability of the declarant is not a prerequisite to the admission of statements deemed to be excited utterances (see, People v Buie, 86 NY2d 501, 506; People v Cannon, 228 AD2d 513, 514).

The sentence imposed was not excessive (see, People v Suitte, 90 AD2d 80).

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6 cases
  • People v. McCray
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Term
    • July 26, 2016
    ...v. Sykes, 26 A.D.3d 203, 812 N.Y.S.2d 468 [2006] ; People v. Prashad, 297 A.D.2d 352, 746 N.Y.S.2d 402 [2002] ; People v. Johnson, 272 A.D.2d 555, 709 N.Y.S.2d 96 [2000] ). There is no reason not to credit the complainant's testimony that he left the library immediately after the attack, to......
  • People v. Carrasquillo-Fuentes
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
    • September 30, 2016
    ...of the declarant is not a prerequisite to the admission of statements deemed to be excited utterances” (People v. Johnson, 272 A.D.2d 555, 555, 709 N.Y.S.2d 96, lv. denied 95 N.Y.2d 854, 714 N.Y.S.2d 5, 736 N.E.2d 866 ; see People v. Buie, 86 N.Y.2d 501, 506, 634 N.Y.S.2d 415, 658 N.E.2d 19......
  • People v. Moore
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Term
    • December 31, 2015
    ...robbery had just occurred and that the declarant was still under the influence of the stress of the incident"]; People v. Johnson, 272 A.D.2d 555, 555, 709 N.Y.S.2d 96 [2000][statement of the victim who "flagged down a police vehicle" to report that he had just been robbed and who appeared ......
  • People v. Paige
    • United States
    • New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division
    • May 7, 2001
    ...officials to be admitted under the "excited utterance" exception to the hearsay rule (People v Edwards, 47 N.Y.2d 493; see, People v Johnson, 272 A.D.2d 555; People v Simpson, 238 A.D.2d 611; People v Cannon, 228 A.D.2d 513). In any event, any error would have been harmless in light of the ......
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