People v. Collins

OPINION OF THE COURT

Wachtler, J.

The defendant has been convicted of attempted grand larceny for demanding money under threat of physical harm in telephone calls recorded by the police. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction and the defendant appeals. The issue is whether testimony of the victim’s daughter, an acquaintance of the defendant, identifying the defendant as the caller on the recordings, should have been excluded because of allegedly suggestive police conduct at the time of the initial voice identification.

In September, 1976 a man called Mrs. Otti Cohen and demanded that she…