CPL § 670.10

Use in a criminal proceeding of testimony given in a previous proceeding; when authorized · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 670.10 Use in a criminal proceeding of testimony given in a previous

proceeding; when authorized.

1. Under circumstances prescribed in this article, testimony given by a witness at (a) a trial of an accusatory instrument, or (b) a hearing upon a felony complaint conducted pursuant to section 180.60, or (c) an examination of such witness conditionally, conducted pursuant to article six hundred sixty, may, where otherwise admissible, be received into evidence at a subsequent proceeding in or relating to the action involved when at the time of such subsequent proceeding the witness is unable to attend the same by reason of death, illness or incapacity, or cannot with due diligence be found, or is outside the state or in federal custody and cannot with due diligence be brought before the court. Upon being received into evidence, such testimony may be read and any videotape or photographic recording thereof played. Where any recording is received into evidence, the stenographic transcript of that examination shall also be received.

2. The subsequent proceedings at which such testimony may be received in evidence consist of:

(a) Any proceeding constituting a part of a criminal action based upon the charge or charges which were pending against the defendant at the time of the witness's testimony and to which such testimony related; and

(b) Any post-judgment proceeding in which a judgment of conviction upon a charge specified in paragraph (a) is challenged.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/670.10

In plain English

Otherwise-admissible testimony from an earlier trial, § 180.60 felony-complaint hearing, or article 660 conditional examination may be used later when the witness cannot attend.

(1) The permitted reasons are death, illness, incapacity, inability to find the witness despite due diligence, or the witness being outside New York or in federal custody and not producible despite due diligence. The testimony may be read and a recording played; if a recording is admitted, the stenographic transcript must also be admitted. ★
(2) It may be used in a proceeding that is part of the same criminal action on the charges pending when the witness testified, or in a post-judgment proceeding challenging a conviction on those charges.

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.