People v. Howard

Judgment unanimously reversed on the law and facts and a new trial granted in accordance with the Memorandum. Memorandum: Evidence adduced at the preliminary hearing by the defendant and not controverted clearly established that the defendant was insane and a mental defective at the time he made certain statements to the police later used on the trial. The failure of the People to sustain the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that such statements were the product of a rational and meaningful act of volition required the suppression of such statements by the court (see Blackburn v.…