People v. Polianskaia

In People v. Polianskaia, 189 Misc.2d 237 (Crim. Ct. N.Y. Cty. 2001) the court observed that in People v. Dumas, the leading case on the requirement of evidentiary facts, the Court of Appeals found the accusatory instrument defective not because the corroborating affidavit mirrored the language of the statute, but because the allegation that the substance seized was marijuana, which, without laboratory testing, was conclusory. The Polianskaia court noted, there is significant appellate authority that an allegation which mirrors the language of a statute may be sufficiently evidentiary to satisfy the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Law.