Opinion
No. 74.
Argued May 2, 2006.
Decided June 6, 2006.
Appeal from the APPEAL, by permission of a Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, from an order of that Court, entered September 15, 2005. The Appellate Division (1) reversed, on the law, a judgment of the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Caesar Cirigliano, J.), which had convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of grand larceny in the fourth degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, and (2) remanded for a new trial.
People v. Redzeposki, 21 AD3d 781, reversed.
Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx ( Jillian E. Wieder, Joseph N. Ferdenzi and Allen H. Saperstein of counsel), for appellant.
Legal Aid Society, New York City ( Ellen Dille, Steven Banks and Laura R. Johnson of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Chief Judge KAYE and Judges G.B. SMITH, CIPARICK, ROSEN-BLATT, GRAFFEO, READ and R.S. SMITH concur in memorandum.
OPINION OF THE COURT
The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed and the case remitted to that Court for consideration of the facts ( see CPL 470.25 [d]; 470.40 [2] [b]).
"Before proceeding in defendant's absence, the court should . . . ma[ke] inquiry and recite [ ] on the record the facts and reasons it relied upon in determining that defendant's absence was deliberate" (People v. Brooks, 75 NY2d 898, 899). Here, the trial court properly inquired into defendant's absence and reasonably determined — based on the court's own observation as well as defense counsel's explanation — that defendant had deliberately left the courthouse shortly before announcement of the jury verdict.
Order reversed, etc.