A PHOTOGRAPH OF DEFENDANT WITH A HANDGUN TAKEN SIX WEEKS BEFORE THE SHOOTING WAS PROPERLY ADMITTED IN EVIDENCE AS TENDING TO SHOW HIS IDENTITY AS THE SHOOTER (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department noted that a photograph of defendant with a small handgun taken six weeks before the charged shooting was properly admitted in evidence:
A photograph of defendant holding a small handgun, taken approximately six weeks before the charged shooting, and recovered from defendant’s phone pursuant to the warrant, was properly admitted. It could be inferred from video footage introduced at trial that a small handgun was used in the shooting. As in People v Alexander (169 AD3d 571 [1st Dept 2019], lv denied 34 NY3d 927 [2019]), the photograph was “relevant to show that defendant had access to such a weapon, thus tending to establish his identity as the perpetrator, and there was no requirement of proof that the [firearm] in the photograph was the actual weapon used in the crime” … . People v Bush, 2020 NY Slip Op 07722, First Dept 12-22-20