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holding that "the fact that the statement was translated from Spanish into English by a detective affects only the weight to be given to the statement by the jury, and is not relevant to the County Court's determination that the statement was voluntarily given"
Summary of this case from Duran v. MillerOpinion
Submitted October 25, 2001.
November 13, 2001.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County (Kowtna, J.), rendered April 28, 1999, convicting him of robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree, burglary in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, and criminal use of a firearm in the first 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 his statement to law enforcement officials.
Leon H. Tracy, Jericho, N.Y., for appellant.
Denis Dillon, District Attorney, Mineola, N.Y. (Bruce E. Whitney and Alexis Kriedman of counsel), for respondent.
Before: FRED T. SANTUCCI, J.P., LEO F. McGINITY, DANIEL F. LUCIANO, THOMAS A. ADAMS, JJ.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
Contrary to the defendant's contentions, the written statement by the defendant was properly admitted into evidence by the County Court. The fact that the statement was translated from Spanish into English by a detective affects only the weight to be given to the statement by the jury, and is not relevant to the County Court's determination that the statement was voluntarily given (see, People v. Washington, 51 N.Y.2d 214; People v. Bridges, 226 A.D.2d 471; People v. Stephen, 155 A.D.2d 490).
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see, People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, upon the exercise of our factual review power, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see, CPL 470.15).
The sentence imposed was not excessive (see, People v. Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80).
The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit.
SANTUCCI, J.P., McGINITY, LUCIANO and ADAMS, JJ., concur.