People v Brown
2012 NY Slip Op 04770 [96 AD3d 869]
June 13, 2012
Appellate Division, Second Department
As corrected through Wednesday, August 1, 2012


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

[*1]Calhoun & Lawrence, LLP, White Plains, N.Y. (Clinton W. Calhoun III of counsel), forappellant.

Janet DiFiore, District Attorney, White Plains, N.Y. (Hae Jin Liu and Steven A. Bender ofcounsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Adler,J.), rendered December 10, 2009, convicting him of burglary in the first degree and criminalpossession of stolen property in the fifth degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's contention that he was deprived of a fair trial when certain hospital recordswere admitted into evidence in order to establish physical injury, an element of burglary in thefirst degree (see Penal Law § 140.30 [2]), is without merit, as the records wereproperly admitted under New York's business records exception to the hearsay rule (seeCPLR 2306 [a]; 4518 [a], [c]; People vDamato, 79 AD3d 1060, 1061 [2010]; People v Verrilli, 69 AD3d 963, 964 [2010]).

The defendant's contention that the use of a letter of certification to authenticate the hospitalrecords deprived him of his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation under Crawford vWashington (541 US 36 [2004]) is unpreserved for appellate review (see CPL 470.05[2]) and, in any event, without merit, since the challenged certificate was not testimonial innature (see generally People vRawlins, 10 NY3d 136 [2008], cert denied sub nom. Meekins v New York, 557US —, 129 S Ct 2856 [2009]).

The defendant was not deprived of the effective assistance of counsel, as defense counselprovided meaningful representation (see People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 712 [1998];People v Baldi, 54 NY2d 137, 147 [1981]). Rivera, J.P., Hall, Lott and Cohen, JJ.,concur.


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