NY · jury_instructions
CJI2d[NY] Witness Unavailable; Testimony via Prior Proceeding
Witness Testimony via Prior Proceeding
Introduction
When the sworn testimony of an unavailable witness is received in evidence pursuant to CPL 670.10 and CPL 670.20, the following instruction may be provided to the jury, as the court determines is appropriate, before the testimony is read to the jury and/or in the credibility section of the final instructions.
The jury may have heard via testimony or stipulation that the witness is unavailable, or may be advised that the witness is unavailable via the following instruction.
Note: While a benign reason for the witness’s unavailability may be provided to the jury via testimony or a stipulation, care should be taken to avoid having a witness elicit a prejudicial reason.
Instruction
Members of the jury, [as you have heard], (specify name of the witness) is unavailable to testify in person,
[Add if appropriate:
because he/she is: (e.g. deceased).]
(Specify) testified in a prior proceeding, and that sworn testimony has been admitted in evidence and is about to be read to you.
[It is not important why (specify) is unavailable, and you are not to speculate about or otherwise consider (specify’s) unavailability.]
You must evaluate the truthfulness and accuracy of (specify’s) prior testimony just as you would the testimony of any other witness.
History
Caption: Witness Testimony via Prior Proceeding. Read from the committee's Word file. Prepared by the New York State Unified Court System Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions, Model Colloquies, and Evidence Rules; published by the Unified Court System at nycourts.gov (the internet edition is the only current and official publication of CJI2d).
Provenance
- Source
- nycourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-25
- Edition
- 2026-09-25
- Content hash
0c9eb3c3ec3e9d117109d45ff773d7e08273fa06e53f701e2670cb7e69ecf1bc
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