Summary
In Kinchen, the Court of Appeals had held that a claim could not be properly considered where there was no proof in the record with regard to the defendant's allegations.
Summary of this case from Hoyt v. LewinOpinion
Argued September 20, 1983
Decided October 20, 1983
Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department, ROBERT P. KENNEDY, J.
Edward J. Nowak, Public Defender ( Peter D. Braun of counsel), for appellant.
Howard R. Relin, District Attorney ( Terry M. Servis of counsel), for respondent.
MEMORANDUM.
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.
Defendant correctly points out that a claimed deprivation of the State constitutional right to counsel may be raised on appeal, notwithstanding that the issue was not preserved by having been specifically raised in a suppression motion or at trial ( People v Samuels, 49 N.Y.2d 218, 221; People v Ermo, 47 N.Y.2d 863, 865). This does not, however, dispense with the need for a factual record sufficient to permit appellate review ( People v Charleston, 54 N.Y.2d 622, 623; People v De Mauro, 48 N.Y.2d 892, 893). Defendant's argument that an outstanding bench warrant should be treated as a pending unrelated charge within the meaning of our holdings in People v Bartolomeo ( 53 N.Y.2d 225) and People v Smith ( 54 N.Y.2d 954) is not properly presented for our consideration, inasmuch as there is no proof in the record that the police had knowledge of the bench warrant's issuance prior to taking defendant's statement, or that they were otherwise chargeable with notice of any other pending criminal action; nor is there proof that defendant was represented by counsel in connection with the warrant or any pending charge (cf. People v Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137 [further proceedings were required to resolve factual issues raised by right to counsel claim, where the record made clear that defendant had informed the police of a pending criminal charge prior to interrogation and it was undisputed that defendant had retained counsel in connection with that charge]).
Chief Judge COOKE and Judges JASEN, JONES, WACHTLER, MEYER and KAYE concur; Judge SIMONS taking no part.
Order affirmed in a memorandum.