(HARMLESS) ERROR TO ALLOW DETECTIVE TO TESTIFY THE PERSON DEPICTED IN A VIDEO WAS THE DEFENDANT (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department determined it was (harmless) error to allow a detective to identify the person depicted in a video as the defendant:
Generally, “lay witnesses must testify only to the facts and not to their opinions and conclusions drawn from the facts,” as it is the jury’s province “to draw the appropriate inferences arising from the facts” … . While, under the proper circumstances, the court has the discretion to allow a lay witness to express his or her opinion that an individual depicted in a surveillance video is the defendant … , here, there was no basis for concluding that the police detective was more likely than the jury to correctly determine whether the defendant was depicted in the video …. The detective had arrested the defendant more than two weeks after the crime, and, at that time, briefly interviewed the defendant. “There was no evidence that [the] defendant had changed his appearance prior to trial, and the record is devoid of any other circumstances suggesting that the jury—which had ample opportunity to view [the] defendant—would be any less able than the detective to determine whether [the] defendant was, in fact, the individual depicted in the video” … . People v Reddick, 2018 NY Slip Op 05608, Second Dept 8-1-18
CRIMINAL LAW (IDENTIFICATION, (HARMLESS) ERROR TO ALLOW DETECTIVE TO TESTIFY THE PERSON DEPICTED IN A VIDEO WAS THE DEFENDANT (SECOND DEPT))/EVIDENCE (CRIMINAL LAW, (HARMLESS) ERROR TO ALLOW DETECTIVE TO TESTIFY THE PERSON DEPICTED IN A VIDEO WAS THE DEFENDANT (SECOND DEPT))/VIDEO (CRIMINAL LAW, (HARMLESS) ERROR TO ALLOW DETECTIVE TO TESTIFY THE PERSON DEPICTED IN A VIDEO WAS THE DEFENDANT (SECOND DEPT))/IDENTIFICATION (CRIMINAL LAW, (HARMLESS) ERROR TO ALLOW DETECTIVE TO TESTIFY THE PERSON DEPICTED IN A VIDEO WAS THE DEFENDANT (SECOND DEPT))