N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law Section 60.30
Rules of evidence

  • identification by means of previous recognition, in addition to present identification
In any criminal proceeding in which the defendant’s commission of an offense is in issue, a witness who testifies that (a) he or she observed the person claimed by the people to be the defendant either at the time and place of the commission of the offense or upon some other occasion relevant to the case, and

(b)

on the basis of present recollection, the defendant is the person in question and (c) on a subsequent occasion he or she observed the defendant, or where the observation is made pursuant to a blind or blinded procedure, as defined in paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section 60.25 of this article, a pictorial, photographic, electronic, filmed or video recorded reproduction of the defendant, under circumstances consistent with such rights as an accused person may derive under the constitution of this state or of the United States, and then also recognized him or her or the pictorial, photographic, electronic, filmed or video recorded reproduction of him or her as the same person whom he or she had observed on the first or incriminating occasion, may, in addition to making an identification of the defendant at the criminal proceeding on the basis of present recollection as the person whom he or she observed on the first or incriminating occasion, also describe his or her previous recognition of the defendant and testify that the person whom he or she observed or whose pictorial, photographic, electronic, filmed or video recorded reproduction he or she observed on such second occasion is the same person whom he or she had observed on the first or incriminating occasion. Such testimony and such pictorial, photographic, electronic, filmed or video recorded reproduction constitutes evidence in chief.

Source: Section 60.30 — Rules of evidence; identification by means of previous recognition, in addition to present identification, https://www.­nysenate.­gov/legislation/laws/CPL/60.­30 (updated Jul. 7, 2017; accessed Feb. 28, 2026).

Green check means up to date. Up to date

Verified:
Feb. 28, 2026

Last modified:
Jul. 7, 2017

§ 60.30. Rules of evidence's source at nysenate​.gov

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