CPL § 60.60

Rules of evidence; certificates concerning judgments of conviction and fingerprints · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 60.60 Rules of evidence; certificates concerning judgments of

conviction and fingerprints.

1. A certificate issued by a criminal court, or the clerk thereof, certifying that a judgment of conviction against a designated defendant has been entered in such court, constitutes presumptive evidence of the facts stated in such certificate.

2. A report of a public servant charged with the custody of official fingerprint records which contains a certification that the fingerprints of a designated person who has previously been convicted of an offense are identical with those of a defendant in a criminal action, constitutes presumptive evidence of the fact that such defendant has previously been convicted of such offense.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/60.60

In plain English

(1) A criminal court’s or court clerk’s certificate that a judgment of conviction was entered against a named defendant is presumptive evidence of the facts it states.
(2) A fingerprint custodian’s certified report that a previously convicted person’s fingerprints match the defendant’s fingerprints is presumptive evidence that the defendant has that prior conviction. ★

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 2 — The Court Officer: Criminal Procedure Law; Volume 2 — Your Career: Criminal Procedure in Plain English.