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Error in Grand Jury Presentation Did Not Raise a Question of Prejudice Sufficient to Justify Dismissal of the Indictment

The Court of Appeals determined the grand jury proceedings were not rendered invalid by the presentation of the videotaped testimony of the child-victim who had not been administered an oath.  After realizing the oath had been omitted, the prosecutor presented the testimony to the grand jury again, this time preceded by the oath.  The Court of Appeals found the defendant had not established the possibility of prejudice:

The People do not dispute that an oath should have been administered to Jane during the first testimonial recording (see e.g. CPL 60.20 [2]; CPL 190.32 [5]…). On these facts, however, the error does not meet the “very precise and very high” statutory standard of impairment for grand jury proceedings … . The lack of an oath was not the product of a nefarious design to deliberately cause unfairness to defendant. Rather, it was an oversight that the People sought to correct by securing judicial permission to record a second interview in which Jane swore to be honest and verified the truth of her prior statements. The grand jury then watched the second video and was instructed that the recording was made because Jane had not taken an oath during her first examination. Based on these circumstances, defendant has not established a possibility of prejudice justifying the exceptional remedy of dismissal of the indictment… .  People v Wisdom, 2014 NY Slip Op 04040, CtApp 6-5-14

 

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