1 No. 45
   The People &c.,
   Respondent,
   v.
   Robert Maldonado,
   Appellant.
     _________________________________________________________________

   2002 NY Int. 40

   April 25, 2002

   This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication
   in the New York Reports.

   Joseph M. Nursey, for appellant.
   Cynthia J. Pree, for respondent.
     _________________________________________________________________

   ROSENBLATT, J.:

   Following a trial that turned on the issue of identity, defendant
   appeals from his convictions for attempted murder, attempted robbery
   and related crimes. He was arrested as an accomplice on the strength
   of a composite sketch created by the victim and a police artist.
   Defendant argues that the Trial Court committed reversible error by
   admitting the sketch into evidence. We agree and therefore reverse
   defendant's convictions and order a new trial.

   While driving a livery cab in The Bronx, Younis Duopo was shot from
   behind by one of two African-American male passengers in an attempted
   robbery. Police recovered shell casings and fingerprints from the
   vehicle and apprehended the gunman, Marcos Poventud,(1) but not his
   accomplice. Seventeen days later, police arrested three Hispanic males
   for another Bronx livery cab shooting and recovered the gun used in
   that crime. Ballistics tests linked the gun to the Duopo shooting.

   A New York Police Department detective obtained photographs of two of
   the three Hispanic assailants and showed them to Duopo, who ruled them
   out as suspects. Nearly two months later, Duopo met with an NYPD
   sketch artist who showed Duopo a series of photographs and created a
   composite sketch designed to reflect Duopo's recollection of the
   non-shooter assailant.

   The detective showed the sketch to several of Poventud's family
   members and friends, one of whom referred the detective to defendant's