People v. Williams
New York Court of Appeals
POINTS OF COUNSEL I. The record discloses that appellant did not knowingly and intelligently waive his Miranda rights. (.Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436; Johnson v Zerbst, 304 US 458; People v Lux, 29 NY2d 848; People v Tigner, 48 AD2d 762; People v Chaffee, 42 AD2d 172; People v White, 85 AD2d 787.) II. Under the totality of the circumstances the confessions were involuntary.
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POINTS OF COUNSEL I. The record discloses that appellant did not knowingly and intelligently waive his Miranda rights. (.Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436; Johnson v Zerbst, 304 US 458; People v Lux, 29 NY2d 848; People v Tigner, 48 AD2d 762; People v Chaffee, 42 AD2d 172; People v White, 85 AD2d 787.) II. Under the totality of the circumstances the confessions were involuntary. (.Rogers v Richmond, 365 US 534; People v Bay, 76 AD2d 592; Bram v United States, 168 US 532; United States v Goray-ska, 482 F Supp 576; Hutto v Ross, 429 US 28; People v Phillips, 42 NY 200; People v Valletutti, 297 NY…
1Opinion of the Court
OPINION OP THE COURT
Chief Judge Cooke.
An effective waiver of Miranda rights may be made by an accused of subnormal intelligence so long as it is established that he or she understood the immediate meaning of the warnings. An inability to comprehend the import of the Miranda warnings in the larger context of criminal law generally does not of itself vitiate the validity of the waiver.
When arrested, defendant was a 20-year-old, functionally illiterate, borderline mentally retarded man who also suffered from organic brain damage as a result of having been struck by a car during his childhood. He…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Johnson v. ZerbstSupreme Court of the United States · 1938
- People v. . JoyceNew York Court of Appeals · 1922
- United States v. DickinsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1980
3Cited by220 opinions
- People v. HarrisNew York Court of Appeals · 2002
- People v. TankleffNew York Court of Appeals · 1994
- Correll v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1987
- People v. SirnoNew York Court of Appeals · 1990
- Yeatts v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1991
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