People v. Ruff

OPINION OF THE COURT

Hancock, Jr., J.

The issue in this case is whether defendant’s statements to police should have been suppressed as violative of his right to counsel under this Court’s holding in People v Ermo (47 NY2d 863). We held in Ermo that a defendant’s statement had been taken in violation of his right to counsel because it was elicited while questioning defendant on pending charges on which defendant was represented by counsel. We reasoned that such exploitation of impermissible questioning by the police interfered with the attorney-client relationship and thus violated the right to…