People v. Arafet

Rose, J. (dissenting).

We respectfully dissent. In its Ventimiglia/Molineux ruling, County Court relied on two exceptions to the general rule that preclude admission of a defendant’s similar uncharged crimes, namely, where such evidence establishes the identity of the perpetrator by his or her unique modus operand! and where it shows a common scheme or plan (see e.g. People v Rojas, 97 NY2d 32, 37 nn 3, 4 [2001]). Notably, the majority considers only the question of whether there was a sufficiently unique modus operand!, no doubt because the evidence clearly fails “to establish a scheme…