People v. Travis

162 A.D.2d 807, 557 N.Y.S.2d 975, 1990 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7244
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJune 14, 1990
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 162 A.D.2d 807 (People v. Travis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Travis, 162 A.D.2d 807, 557 N.Y.S.2d 975, 1990 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7244 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

Mercure, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Washington County (Berke, J.), rendered May 5, 1989, convicting defendant upon his plea of guilty of the crimes of murder in the second degree and arson in the third degree.

On April 14, 1988, defendant gave an oral statement to State Police Investigators, subsequently reduced to a signed written confession, in which he admitted killing Josephine Brown the previous day and setting her house ablaze to conceal his act. Defendant was indicted for various counts of murder, arson, burglary and larceny as a result. Following an unsuccessful effort to obtain suppression of his inculpatory oral and written statements, defendant pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and arson in the third degree in full satisfaction of the charges and was sentenced to concurrent prison terms aggregating 17 years to life. Defendant now appeals, contending only that County Court erred in denying his motion to suppress.

The essential facts as established in the Huntley hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress his statements may be briefly stated. On April 14, 1988, State Police Investigators John Liptak and William Bragin received orders to find defendant, previously identified and questioned as one of the first persons at the scene of the crime, and to bring him back to the State Police substation in the Town of Malta, Saratoga County. Defendant was located at his grandfather’s house and, according to Liptak, agreed to accompany the investigators. After patting him down, Liptak and Bragin drove defendant to the substation, arriving at approximately 2:30 p.m. Defendant was taken to a room and, except for brief interruptions, was continuously questioned by Investigator Curt Lohrey until 6:30 p.m. Defendant was then interviewed in the same room [808]*808by Investigator Dennis Conway for an additional four hours, until 10:30 p.m. It was during the second interview that defendant first made inculpatory statements. Sometime between 11:00 and 11:30 p.m. defendant signed a nine-page confession.

Following the hearing, County Court rendered a detailed written decision in which it rejected defendant’s contention that the statements were the product of an unlawful arrest, finding instead that defendant was not in police custody at the time the statements were made. Confronted with conflicting testimony with respect to numerous relevant facts, County Court in each instance credited the testimony of police investigators over that of other witnesses, including defendant. Thus, it determined that defendant voluntarily accompanied Liptak and Bragin to the substation for questioning, was not handcuffed

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 A.D.2d 807, 557 N.Y.S.2d 975, 1990 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-travis-nyappdiv-1990.