Court Opinion

ID: 9715881
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:18:43.381552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:39.261403
License: Public Domain

Pigott, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent and vote to reverse because, in my view, the trial court improperly admitted the testimony concerning the alleged uncharged sexual assault. Such error was not harmless and deprived defendant of a fair trial.
The trial court admitted testimony concerning defendant’s uncharged sexual assault of a witness “as background evidence to provide a context for the statement and to complete the nar*873rative,” phrases we have used numerous times in the context of Molineux (see e.g. People v Till, 87 NY2d 835, 837 [1995]; People v Montanez, 41 NY2d 53, 58 [1976]; People v Gines, 36 NY2d 932, 932-933 [1975]). However, we have cautioned that the admission of such uncharged crime evidence “is a delicate business” fraught with “the danger that [the] uncharged crime testimony may improperly divert the jury from the case at hand or introduce more prejudice than evidentiary value” (People v Resek, 3 NY3d 385, 389 [2004]). In my view, that is exactly what happened here.
My objection lies not with the admission of the statement itself, but with the inclusion of testimony concerning the uncharged sexual assault in conjunction with that statement. Thus, to the extent defendant’s statement may have constituted an admission and was therefore properly admitted, the trial court could have fashioned a remedy that would have permitted the witness to testify to the alleged statement separately and apart from the alleged sexual assault.
I disagree with the majority that the admission of the uncharged sexual assault was harmless and therefore “there was no significant probability the jury would have acquitted defendant if not for the error” (majority op at 871). In cases involving sex offense crimes, we have repeatedly held that evidence of uncharged crimes “is ‘inadmissible if offered for no purpose other than to raise an inference that a defendant is of a criminal disposition and, therefore, likely to have committed the crime charged’ ” (People v Vargas, 88 NY2d 856, 858 [1996], quoting People v McKinney, 24 NY2d 180, 184 [1969]; see People v Hudy, 73 NY2d 40, 54 [1988]).
In my view, evidence of the alleged uncharged sexual assault was probative only of defendant’s propensity to commit rape. The trial court’s determination that its admission was necessary to provide background information or complete the narrative was “nothing more than a disguised ‘propensity’ argument” prohibited by Molineux that should have been excluded (Hudy, 73 NY2d at 56). As the majority notes “ ‘the testimony of a single witness [can be enough] to support a conviction’ ” (majority op at 870, quoting People v Schulz, 4 NY3d 521, 530). It was therefore not only unnecessary but prejudicial for the trial court to allow the People to introduce evidence concerning the alleged uncharged sexual assault since the testimony of the complainant alone was sufficient to submit the case to a jury. The admission of the alleged uncharged sexual assault operated *874solely “to lend credibility to [the] complainant by suggesting that, because defendant had engaged in sexual misconduct” with a witness, “he was likely to have committed the acts charged” (Vargas, 88 NY2d at 858, citing Hudy, 73 NY2d at 56). This critical error deprived defendant of a fair trial, and could hardly be considered “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt” (People v Simmons, 75 NY2d 738, 739 [1989]).
Chief Judge Kaye and Judges Ciparick, Graffeo and Read concur; Judge Smith concurs in result in an opinion; Judge Pigott dissents and votes to reverse in a separate opinion; Judge Jones taking no part.
Order affirmed in a memorandum.