2023 New York Laws › CPL - Criminal Procedure › Part 2 - The Principal Proceedings › Title I - Preliminary Proceedings in Superior Court › Article 190 - The Grand Jury and Its Proceedings › 190.30 - Grand Jury; Rules of Evidence.

§ 190.30 Grand jury; rules of evidence.
1.  Except  as  otherwise  provided in this section, the provisions of
article sixty, governing rules of  evidence  and  related  matters  with
respect  to  criminal  proceedings  in  general, are, where appropriate,
applicable to grand jury proceedings.
2. A report or a copy of a report made by a public  servant  or  by  a
person  employed  by  a  public  servant  or  agency who is a physicist,
chemist, coroner or medical examiner,  firearms  identification  expert,
examiner  of  questioned documents, fingerprint technician, or an expert
or technician in  some  comparable  scientific  or  professional  field,
concerning  the  results of an examination, comparison or test performed
by him in connection with a case which is the subject of  a  grand  jury
proceeding,  may,  when certified by such person as a report made by him
or as a true copy thereof, be received in such grand jury proceeding  as
evidence of the facts stated therein.
2-a.  When  the  electronic  transmission  of  a  certified report, or
certified copy thereof, of the kind  described  in  subdivision  two  or
three-a  of  this  section  or a sworn statement or copy thereof, of the
kind described in subdivision three of this section results in a written
document, such written document may  be  received  in  such  grand  jury
proceeding  provided that: (a) a transmittal memorandum completed by the
person sending the report contains a certification that the  report  has
not  been  altered and a description of the report specifying the number
of pages; and (b) the person who receives the electronically transmitted
document certifies that such document and transmittal memorandum were so
received; and (c) a certified  report  or  a  certified  copy  or  sworn
statement  or  sworn  copy thereof is filed with the court within twenty
days following arraignment upon  the  indictment;  and  (d)  where  such
written  document is a sworn statement or sworn copy thereof of the kind
described in subdivision three of this section, such sworn statement  or
sworn  copy  thereof  is  also  provided to the defendant or his counsel
within twenty days following arraignment upon the indictment.
3. A written or oral statement, under oath, by a person  attesting  to
one  or more of the following matters may be received in such grand jury
proceeding as evidence of the facts stated therein:
(a) that person's ownership  or  lawful  custody  of,  or  license  to
occupy,  premises, as defined in section 140.00 of the penal law, and of
the defendant's  lack  of  license  or  privilege  to  enter  or  remain
thereupon;
(b)  that person's ownership of, or possessory right in, property, the
nature and monetary amount of any damage  thereto  and  the  defendant's
lack of right to damage or tamper with the property;
(c)  that  person's  ownership  or  lawful  custody  of, or license to
possess property, as  defined  in  section  155.00  of  the  penal  law,
including  an automobile or other vehicle, its value and the defendant's
lack of superior or equal right to possession thereof;
(d) that person's ownership of  a  vehicle  and  the  absence  of  his
consent to the defendant's taking, operating, exercising control over or
using it;
(e)  that  person's  qualifications  as  a  dealer  or other expert in
appraising or evaluating a  particular  type  of  property,  his  expert
opinion  as  to the value of a certain item or items of property of that
type, and the basis for his opinion;
(f) that person's identity as an ostensible  maker,  drafter,  drawer,
endorser  or  other  signator  of  a  written instrument and its falsity
within the meaning of section 170.00 of the penal law;
(g) that person's ownership of, or possessory right in, a credit  card
account number or debit card account number, and the defendant's lack of
superior or equal right to use or possession thereof.
Provided,  however,  that  no such statement shall be admitted when an
adversarial examination of  such  person  has  been  previously  ordered
pursuant to subdivision 8 of section 180.60, unless a transcript of such
examination is admitted.
3-a.  A  sex  offender  registration  form,  sex offender registration
continuation/supplemental   form,   sex   offender   registry    address
verification form, sex offender change of address form or a copy of such
form  maintained by the division of criminal justice services concerning
an individual who is the subject of a grand jury proceeding,  may,  when
certified  by a person designated by the commissioner of the division of
criminal justice services as the person to certify such  records,  as  a
true copy thereof, be received in such grand jury proceeding as evidence
of the facts stated therein.
4.  An  examination  of  a  child  witness or a special witness by the
district attorney videotaped pursuant to section 190.32 of this  chapter
may  be  received  in  evidence  in  such  grand  jury proceeding as the
testimony of such witness.
5. Nothing in subdivisions two, three or four of this section shall be
construed to limit the power of the grand jury to cause any person to be
called as a witness pursuant to subdivision three of section 190.50.
6. Wherever it is provided in  article  sixty  that  the  court  in  a
criminal  proceeding  must  rule  upon  the  competency  of a witness to
testify or upon the admissibility of evidence, such  ruling  may  in  an
equivalent situation in a grand jury proceeding, be made by the district
attorney.
7.  Wherever it is provided in article sixty that a court presiding at
a jury trial must instruct the jury with respect  to  the  significance,
legal  effect  or  evaluation  of evidence, the district attorney, in an
equivalent situation in a grand jury proceeding,  may  so  instruct  the
grand jury.
8.  (a)  A  business  record  may  be  received  in  such  grand  jury
proceedings as evidence of the following facts and similar facts  stated
therein:
(i)  a  person's  use of, subscription to and charges and payments for
communication equipment  and  services  including  but  not  limited  to
equipment  or  services  provided  by  telephone  companies and internet
service providers, but not including recorded  conversations  or  images
communicated thereby; and
(ii)  financial  transactions,  and a person's ownership or possessory
interest in any  account,  at  a  bank,  insurance  company,  brokerage,
exchange  or  banking  organization  as  defined  in  section two of the
banking law.
(b) Any business record offered for  consideration  by  a  grand  jury
pursuant  to  paragraph (a) of this subdivision must be accompanied by a
written statement, under oath, that (i) contains a list  or  description
of the records it accompanies, (ii) attests in substance that the person
making  the  statement  is a duly authorized custodian of the records or
other employee or agent of  the  business  who  is  familiar  with  such
records,  and  (iii) attests in substance that such records were made in
the regular course of business and that it was  the  regular  course  of
such  business  to  make  such  records at the time of the recorded act,
transaction,  occurrence  or  event,  or  within   a   reasonable   time
thereafter.   Such  written  statement  may  also  include  a  statement
identifying the name and  job  description  of  the  person  making  the
statement, specifying the matters set forth in subparagraph (ii) of this

paragraph and attesting that the business has made a diligent search and
does  not possess a particular record or records addressing a matter set
forth in paragraph (a) of this subdivision, and such  statement  may  be
received  at  grand  jury  proceedings  as evidence of the fact that the
business does not possess such record or  records.  When  records  of  a
business are accompanied by more than one sworn written statement of its
employees  or  agents,  such  statements  may  be considered together in
determining the admissibility of the records under this subdivision. For
the purpose of this subdivision, the term "business  records"  does  not
include  any records prepared by law enforcement agencies or prepared by
any entity in anticipation of litigation.
(c) Any business record offered to a grand jury pursuant to  paragraph
(a)  of this subdivision that includes material beyond that described in
such  paragraph  (a)  shall  be  redacted  to  exclude  such  additional
material,  or  received subject to a limiting instruction that the grand
jury shall not consider such  additional  material  in  support  of  any
criminal charge.
(d)  No such records shall be admitted when an adversarial examination
of such a records custodian or other employee of such business  who  was
familiar  with  such  records  has  been  previously ordered pursuant to
subdivision eight of section 180.60 of this chapter, unless a transcript
of such examination is admitted.
(e) Nothing in this subdivision  shall  affect  the  admissibility  of
business  records  in  the  grand  jury on any basis other than that set
forth in this subdivision.