People v. Conyers

Because the majority departs from the precedent established in People v Rothschild (35 NY2d 355) and does so on the wholly untenable basis that defendant’s silence when arrested was too ambiguous to "materially advance the search for truth” (p 183; see, also, p 181), I respectfully dissent.

By its decision today the majority leaves the status of Rothschild unclear, for though it appears to have ruled that impeachment by silence remains permissible in the circumstances of Rothschild (p 181) it also speaks of re-examining Rothschild in the light of later Supreme Court cases (p 179), and its…