People v Owoaje

Holding The judgment convicting the defendant of sexual abuse in the first degree and endangering the welfare of a child is affirmed. The court found no error in the replacement of an unsworn juror, the admission of DNA evidence, or the exclusion of certain hearsay and grand jury testimony, and determined that any improper prosecutorial comments were harmless.

The court’s words

it was within the Supreme Court's discretion to replace an unsworn juror who had been discharged with an unsworn alternate

2026 NY Slip Op 05977, at the official text

The criminalist's testimony established that she performed her own independent analysis of the raw data

2026 NY Slip Op 05977, at the official text

The contents of the call were inadmissible hearsay, as there was no evidence that the declarant had personally observed the incident

2026 NY Slip Op 05977, at the official text

The exception in Robinson does not apply to introduction of a videotape merely to demonstrate demeanor

2026 NY Slip Op 05977, at the official text

Gaps in the chain of custody may be excused when circumstances provide reasonable assurances of the identity and unchanged condition of the evidence

2026 NY Slip Op 05977, at the official text

they were not so pervasive or egregious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial

2026 NY Slip Op 05977, at the official text