[DOWNLOAD] "People State New York v. Willie Combs" by Supreme Court of New York # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People State New York v. Willie Combs
- Author : Supreme Court of New York
- Release Date : January 17, 1963
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 63 KB
Description
Defendant's main grievance is that at the time of his arraignment on the charge of murder in the first degree (and before pleading guilty) a plea of not guilty was entered without the benefit of counsel. Defendant relies apparently on the case of Hamilton v. Alabama (368 U.S. 52), although it is not cited. There the court, in a capital case where the death sentence was imposed, set aside the judgment of conviction on the ground that defendant's constitutional rights were violated when a plea not of guilty was entered on arraignment without the benefit of counsel. His rights were violated, the court held, because under Alabama law whatever defenses may be available to a defendant in a criminal action are irretrievably lost unless such rights are claimed and asserted upon his original arraignment. The basis of the decision was the defendant's permanent loss under Alabama law of his legal rights. There is a radical difference, however, between the law of Alabama and the law of this State. Under the law of this State, we hold as a matter of law and find as a fact that in this case the defendant lost no rights and suffered no prejudice whatever because of his counsel's absence at the time of his (defendant's) initial arraignment; whatever counsel could have done then on defendant's behalf, counsel was free to do thereafter (cf. People v. Zizzo, 38 Misc. 2d 428; People v. Murdaugh, 18 A.D.2d 1139). The law of this State provides a complete remedy for the redress of a defendant's rights even though initially he appeared without counsel upon his arraignment and pleaded not guilty. For he may thereafter move to set aside his prior pro se plea of not guilty and attack or demur to the indictment and take advantage of every other opportunity or defense which was originally available to him (People v. Dolac, 3 A.D.2d 351, affd. 3 N.Y.2d 945; People v. Spinney, 16 A.D.2d 669; Canizio v. New York, 327 U.S. 82; People v. Hyde, 16 A.D.2d 942; People v. Lupo, 16 A.D.2d 943; People v. Zizzo, 38 Misc. 2d 428, supra). Under the law of this State, therefore, it may not be said that defendant's constitutional rights