ALBANY – A suspect’s conviction and 18-year sentence should stand, despite the “appalling” conduct of a sheriff’s deputy in slipping a religious pamphlet into the defendant’s pocket during his trial urging him to confess, a unanimous upstate appellate court ruled Thursday.
The court credited the trial judge, Albany Supreme Court Justice Dan Lamont, with performing the required colloquy with defendant Charlie Robles when the pamphlet came to light to make sure Robles was not acting under pressure from the government and understood his decision not to testify in his own defense.
