New York Court of Appeals, 1979

People v. Arroyo

New York Court of Appeals · Decided February 22, 1979

46 N.Y.2d 928; 388 N.E.2d 342; 415 N.Y.S.2d 205; 1979 N.Y. LEXIS 1854

Cases that cite this one

22 later published cases cite this decision.

People v. Mordino (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1981)
People v. Shapiro (N.Y. 1980)
People v. Jones (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2022)
DEKENIPP, RICHARD A., PEOPLE v (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
People v. Dekenipp (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
People v. Dekenipp (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2013)
People v. Callicut (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)
People v. Callicut (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)
People v. Pettiford (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)
People v. Ruiz (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)
People v. Jones (New York Supreme Court 2002)
People v. Grimes (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2001)
People v. Faulk (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)
People v. Webb (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1993)
People v. Hamilton (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1987)
Flushing National Bank v. Transamerica Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1987)
People v. Kramer (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1986)
People v. Bagby (N.Y. 1985)
People v. Bagby (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1984)
People v. Brooks (New York Supreme Court 1984)
State v. Carey Resources, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1983)
People v. Thomas (N.Y. 1980)

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

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

*930The trial court did not err in upholding the refusal of the witness called by the defense to testify based on the assertion of his constitutional privilege against self incrimination. There is nothing in this record to take this case out of the general rule that the witness is the judge of his right to invoke the privilege (People ex rel. Taylor v Forbes, 143 NY 219, 230-231; see, also, 65 NY Jur, Witnesses, § 43, p 196).

Nor did the refusal of the prosecutor to grant the witness immunity deny defendant due process or deprive him of his right to a fair trial. It suffices for present purposes to note that the witness here was not an agent of the law enforcement authorities or otherwise in any way a part of the prosecutorial apparatus. (Cf. People v Sapia, 41 NY2d 160).

Finally, we agree that no error was committed by the trial court when it refused to receive the pretrial hearsay statement made by the witness to the District Attorney’s office.

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler and Fuchsberg concur.

Order affirmed in a memorandum.

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