People State New York v. Raymond Eldridge and Paul Wilson

[34 A.D.2d 693 Page 693] The several issues raised by the appellants have been examined and found to be without merit. The contention that judgments should be reversed solely because of unreasonable delay in furnishing a transcript of trial minutes as required by section 456 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, has been previously considered by this court and rejected. (See People v. Porter, 19 A.D.2d 928, affd. 14 N.Y.2d 785; People v. Josey, 19 A.D.2d 660.) Only if the trial transcript cannot be made available, preventing perfection of the appeal, will we reverse and direct a new trial (People v. Boone, 22 A.D.2d 982). Since the transcript is now available and appellants have been able to perfect their appeal, this ground is unavailable. It should also be observed that the appellants have been at liberty upon a certificate of reasonable doubt during the pendency of this appeal. Likewise, we find no basis in the contention that the prosecution failed to prove appellants' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The indictment charged that appellants stole about 3,000 pounds of copper worth more than $900 from the Reynolds Metal Company in Massena on May 19, 1965 at about 7:00 p.m. A foreman at Reynolds' Massena plant testified that on May 17, 1965, he noticed that a quantity of copper tabs which had been stored in his shop was missing. A search located a quantity of tabs concealed at the plant's dump. A [34 A.D.2d 693 Page 694]