Opinion
October 27, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J.).
The court properly found defendant competent to stand trial following a CPL 730.30 hearing. The court appropriately weighed the conflicting psychiatric testimony, the lack of objective proof of defendant's incapacity other than defendant's own statements to the psychiatrists, and defendant's demeanor and behavior in making its determination that the People had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant had the capacity to stand trial ( see, People v. Carl, 58 A.D.2d 948, revd on other grounds 46 N.Y.2d 806). The fact that defendant began a pattern of strange behavior only after the competency hearing was requested provided particular support for the court's conclusion that defendant was feigning mental illness.
Concur — Sullivan, J. P., Rosenberger, Nardelli, Williams and Andrias, JJ.