Opinion
April 17, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Irving Lang, J.).
Defendant was convicted, together with codefendant Ellijah Bell of the September 8, 1985 gunpoint robbery of complainants Kenneth Garcia and Allen Bryant on 159th Street, between Edgecomb Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan.
Bell's conviction was affirmed by this court without opinion ( 143 A.D.2d 545, lv denied 73 N.Y.2d 889).
On appeal, defendant argues that it was error for the court to have refused to admit a tape recording of a 911 telephone call made by Bryant approximately one-half hour after the robbery, in which he reported defendant's presence as a prowler outside his building, without reporting that he had been robbed. We reject this claim, since the sole potential use of this evidence would have been to impeach Bryant's credibility, and Bryant did not testify. Although defendant posits a hearsay analysis, to which the People respond, Bryant's statement was clearly not being offered for the truth of its content — i.e., that there was a prowler in front of his building — and was, therefore, not hearsay. (People v. Davis, 86 A.D.2d 542; Richardson, Evidence § 200 [Prince 10th ed].)
We further reject defendant's contention that the trial court improperly admitted into evidence a gun found in his holding cell at the police precinct. The record sufficiently establishes a chain of connection between defendant and the gun, which, in addition, matched complainant Garcia's description of the weapon utilized by the defendant during the robbery. Thus, it was reasonable to infer that this physical evidence was relevant to an issue in the case. (People v. Mirenda, 23 N.Y.2d 439, 453.)
Concur — Kupferman, J.P., Ross, Asch, Kassal and Wallach, JJ.