Matter of Fontaine O.
2012 NY Slip Op 09178 [101 AD3d 649]
December 27, 2012
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, February 6, 2013


In the Matter of Fontaine O., a Person Alleged to be a Juvenile Delinquent, Appellant.

[*1] Tamara A. Steckler, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Susan Clement of counsel), for appellant.

Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Marta Ross of counsel), for presentment agency.

Order, Family Court, Bronx County (Allen G. Alpert, J.), entered on or about August 22, 2011, which adjudicated appellant a juvenile delinquent upon his admission that he committed an act that, if committed by an adult, would constitute the crime of menacing in the second degree, and placed him on probation for a period of 12 months, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Appellant's admission was knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily made. That the factual inquiry preceded the advisement of rights does not require reversal. The court fully advised appellant and his adult sister of the rights appellant was waiving before the court accepted and entered the admission, at which point it became final (see Matter of Sean B., 99 AD3d 433 [1st Dept 2012]). As in Matter of Leon T. (23 AD3d 256, 256-257 [1st Dept 2005]), "[a]ppellant's assertion that he was forced to 'incriminate' himself prior to receiving any warnings is meritless; the admission had no 'incriminating' effect until it was finally accepted by the court."

Appellant's other challenges to his admission are likewise unavailing. The court sufficiently explained the rights that appellant was waiving (see generally Boykin v Alabama, [*2]395 US 238 [1969]), and the adult sibling's allocution sufficiently incorporated appellant's allocution by reference (see Matter of Humberto R., 81 AD3d 471 [1st Dept 2011]). Concur—Mazzarelli, J.P., Moskowitz, DeGrasse, Manzanet-Daniels and Clark, JJ.