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People v. Bell

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Jun 3, 1980
407 N.E.2d 1340 (N.Y. 1980)

Opinion

Argued April 29, 1980

Decided June 3, 1980

Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department, JOHN V. AYLWARD, J.

William J. McClusky for appellant.

Lee Clary, District Attorney (Donald R. Gerace of counsel), for respondent.


MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, the motion to suppress granted and the case remitted to the Jefferson County Court for further proceedings on the indictments.

The defendant arrested, arraigned and held in custody on one charge was questioned by the police about that charge and another unrelated incident. The hearing court properly held that the statement should be suppressed insofar as it relates to the charge on which the defendant was being held in custody (see People v Hobson, 39 N.Y.2d 479). We now hold that the remainder of the confession should be suppressed although it concerns an unrelated incident (see People v Rogers, 48 N.Y.2d 167; see, also, People v Settles, 46 N.Y.2d 154; People v Samuels, 49 N.Y.2d 218). The fact that the questioning may have been prompted by the defendant's remarks does not render his answers spontaneous (People v Tompkins, 45 N.Y.2d 748 ). We find no merit to the prosecutor's argument that People v Rogers (supra), should not be applied retroactively. That decision was based on People v Hobson (supra), which has been applied to cases on appeal at the time the case was decided (see, e.g., People v Macedonio, 42 N.Y.2d 944).

Chief Judge COOKE and Judges GABRIELLI, JONES, WACHTLER, FUCHSBERG and MEYER concur in memorandum; Judge JASEN concurs on constraint of People v Rogers ( 48 N.Y.2d 167).

Order reversed, etc.


Summaries of

People v. Bell

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Jun 3, 1980
407 N.E.2d 1340 (N.Y. 1980)
Case details for

People v. Bell

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. ROBERT L. BELL…

Court:Court of Appeals of the State of New York

Date published: Jun 3, 1980

Citations

407 N.E.2d 1340 (N.Y. 1980)
407 N.E.2d 1340
430 N.Y.S.2d 43

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