New York Court of Appeals, 1974

People v. Oliver

New York Court of Appeals · Decided June 26, 1974

34 N.Y.2d 859; 316 N.E.2d 578; 359 N.Y.S.2d 112; 1974 N.Y. LEXIS 1460

Cases that cite this one

5 later published cases cite this decision.

People v. Smith (New York County Courts 1980)
The People v. Thomas P. Perdue (N.Y. 2023)
People v. Fuentes (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2008)
People v. Woodberry (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1977)
People v. Slater (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1976)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Memorandum : Prior to the passage of the new Criminal Procedure Law, it would have been proper for the Trial Judge, under certain circumstances, to deny a motion for a pretrial hearing to determine if pretrial photographic identification was improperly obtained (People v. Ganci, 27 N Y 2d 418, 427). The new Criminal Procedure Law, however, changes that rule and makes a requested pretrial hearing mandatory in a case such as the one at bar. (See CPL 710.20, subd. 5; 710.30, subd. 2; 710.40; see, also, People v. Harrington, 31 N Y 2d 785, 786.) It was therefore error to deny the motion for a pretrial hearing in this case. However, we agree with the Appellate Division that, given the overwhelming proof of guilt apart from the contested identification testimony, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

Chief Judge Breitel and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Rabin and Stevens concur.

Order affirmed in a memorandum.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.