People v. Johnson

I agree with the majority that there should be a reversal, but cannot join its opinion which establishes an exclusionary rule under our State Constitution, thus amending the Constitution in a fashion explicitly rejected by the delegates to the 1938 Constitutional Convention, and overruling three decisions sub silentio (People v Richter’s Jewelers, 291 NY 161 [Lehman, Ch. J.]; People v Defore, 242 NY 13 [Cardozo, Ch. J.], cert denied 270 US 657; People v Adams, 176 NY 351, affd 192 US 585). As shall be demonstrated, exclusion of evidence is not a command of NY Constitution, article I, § 12.…