Surveillance technology has become a staple in criminal trials; with increasing frequency, prosecutors are offering surveillance video recordings as part of their evidence-in-chief. Many of these recordings will depict a crime scene and, in some cases, prosecutors will argue that the defendant’s image has also been captured on it. The New York Court of Appeals has now held that, under certain circumstances, a person who is not an eyewitness to the crime can testify at trial that the defendant is the person depicted in the video.
In People v. Mosley, 2024 N.Y. Slip Op 02125 (2024), the defendant was convicted of gun possession and reckless endangerment arising from an incident in which a gun was fired several times at an occupied motor vehicle. The only evidence connecting Mosley to the crime was a grainy video depicting a man running through the streets and firing three shots into a van. The van drove off and the police did not see the shooter.