People v. Bevilacqua

I cannot agree with the majority in the reversal of defendant’s convictions of murder, robbery, grand larceny, possession of a weapon and conspiracy in the first degree.1

The question squarely presented on this appeal is whether an 18-year-old adult, arrested on six previous occasions and not a novice to the criminal justice system, was fully capable of voluntarily and intelligently waiving his right to counsel, without prior notification to his mother.

Here, the trial court found, and the Appellate Division affirmed, that defendant’s oral admissions were voluntarily made after "he…