People v. Smith

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, the statements obtained from defendant suppressed, and a new trial granted.

There is no question that the officer who questioned defendant knew that defendant had been arrested eight months earlier on a sodomy charge by the same police de*956partment. Indeed the officer testified that he assumed that defendant had an attorney on that charge. Since he had actual notice, the officer was “under an obligation to inquire whether defendant was represented by an attorney” on the earlier charge (People v Bartolomeo, 53…