Opinion ID: 147061
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Failure to properly object to the admission of the videotaped demonstration

Text: On direct appeal, Bierenbaum contended that the trial court erroneously admitted videotapes, demonstrating how a pilot can, without assistance, place a flight bag loaded with one hundred ten pounds of weight into a Cessna 172, fly the plane over the ocean and push it out. The Appellate Division found the error unpreserved, and declined to review it. When the prosecution gave notice during trial that it had provided copies of the videotapes to the defense, counsel stated I suspect we'll object. The trial judge responded And I suspect I'll allow it. Trial Tr. vol. III, 2820, Oct. 12, 2000. The videotapes were subsequently offered into evidence without objection. The Appellate Division held that Bierenbaum had not effectively protested the admission of the videotapes under New York's preservation rule, which `require[s], at the very least, that any matter which a party wishes the appellate court to decide have been brought to the attention of the trial court at a time and in a way that gave the latter the opportunity to remedy the problem and thereby avert reversible error.' Richardson v. Greene, 497 F.3d 212, 218 (2d Cir.2007) (quoting Garcia v. Lewis, 188 F.3d 71, 78 (2d Cir.1999)); see N.Y.Crim. Proc. Law § 470.05[2]. Bierenbaum now argues that his counsel was ineffective for failing to properly object to the admission of the videotapes. He contends that the videotapes lacked any foundation in the evidence and were based on speculation. On that point we agree with the Appellate Division, the post-judgment motion court and the district court that the contents of the videotape[s] depict a scenario that was anything but speculation. Rather, the tape's contents clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the People's theory of this case, a theory which all of the circumstantial proof together overwhelmingly shows. Bierenbaum, 748 N.Y.S.2d at 589 (dictum). Given that the videotapes were neither speculative nor lacking in foundation, counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to their admission on that basis.