the record does establish that Supreme Court was satisfied with the waiver of the indictment and executed an order to that effect. We thus "may presume that the matter was properly before that court" (People v Chad S., 237 AD2d 986, lv denied 90 NY2d 856; see People v Hurd, 12 AD3d 1198, 1199, lv denied 4 NY3d 764).
But in both People v Chad S. (237 AD2d 986) and People v Hurd (12 A.D.3d 1198) the Court had found that "the record fails to establish that defendant did not waive a preliminary hearing, that a hearing was not held, or that the charges were still pending in City Court." there was no such finding in Hernandez, yet the Court reached same result, simply because of the presumption.
We thus "may presume that the matter was properly before that court" Really?! Why? Because lower courts don't make mistakes? Presumptions like this don't give one much confidence in the utility of appeals.
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