People v. McLean

Because I find, on two separate grounds, that the police did not meet their burden of resolving ambiguity regarding defendant’s representation by counsel prior to questioning him, thereby violating his indelible right to counsel, I respectfully dissent.

The right to counsel is a “cherished principle” that requires “[t]he highest degree of [judicial] vigilance ... to safeguard it” (People v West, 81 NY2d 370, 373 [1993] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]). Defendant’s right to counsel with respect to the Leonder Goodwin murder investigation indelibly attached in 2003 and was not,…