Opinion
Submitted October 29, 1999
December 6, 1999
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Finnegan, J.), rendered March 19, 1998, convicting him of murder in the second degree, kidnapping in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress statements made by him to law enforcement authorities.
Lynn F. W. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (William A. Loeb of counsel), for appellant.
Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano and Sharon Y. Brodt of counsel), for respondent.
SONDRA MILLER, J.P., MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, NANCY E. SMITH, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
We find no basis to disturb the hearing court's determination that the defendant knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waived his Miranda rights (see, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 ). The record fully supports the court's finding that the defendant had a sufficient command of the English language to appreciate the import of the Miranda warnings (see, People v. Alexandre, 215 A.D.2d 488 ;People v. Eismann, 158 A.D.2d 537 ; People v. Acuna, 145 A.D.2d 427, 430 ; People v. Tineo, 144 A.D.2d 507 ). The hearing court properly considered the testimony of the People's rebuttal witnesses regarding the language used by the defendant to communicate with them at a correctional facility, in light of the defendant's hearing testimony that he was unable to communicate in English (see, People v. Mendoza, 240 A.D.2d 316 ).
S. MILLER, J.P., ALTMAN, SCHMIDT, and SMITH, JJ., concur.