People v Barr
2009 NY Slip Op 01992 [60 AD3d 864]
March 17, 2009
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, May 6, 2009


The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
GeneBarr, Appellant.

[*1]Beverly Van Ness, New York, N.Y., for appellant.

Kathleen M. Rice, District Attorney, Mineola, N.Y. (Peter A. Weinstein and Judith R.Sternberg of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County (DeRiggi, J.),rendered November 25, 2003, convicting him of criminal possession of a forged instrument inthe second degree (four counts), grand larceny in the third degree, attempted grand larceny in thesecond degree (two counts), and attempted grand larceny in the third degree, upon a jury verdict,and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The trial court erred in excluding, as hearsay, certain testimony regarding the circumstancessurrounding the defendant's deposits of various forged or altered checks. Specifically, thedefendant attempted to testify to conversations he allegedly had with a man named "Sule" priorto depositing the checks. That evidence was admissible, as it was not offered "for the purpose ofestablishing the truth thereof, but merely to establish the defendant's state of mind" (People vBoyd, 256 AD2d 350, 351 [1998]; see People v Minor, 69 NY2d 779, 780 [1987];People v Hamm, 42 AD3d550, 551 [2007]). Nevertheless, the error was harmless (see People v Crimmins, 36NY2d 230, 237 [1975]; People v Bruner, 222 AD2d 738 [1995]; People v Robles,201 AD2d 591, 592 [1994]; People v Martinez, 154 AD2d 401, 401-402 [1989]).

Additionally, the defendant failed to develop a factual record sufficient to permit appellatereview of his claim that the court should have admitted into evidence a document reflectingcertain Western Union transfers (see People v Kinchen, 60 NY2d 772, 773-774 [1983];People v Elliott, 39 AD3d 663[2007]; People v [*2]Thompson, 34 AD3d 852, 854 [2006]).

The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit. Rivera, J.P., Ritter, Miller andChambers, JJ., concur.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.