ALBANY – The Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a murder conviction where the defendant endured a 49-1/2-hour interrogation, unanimously deciding that an eight-hour break between the lengthy grilling and a subsequent confession failed to restore the defendant to the point where he could make a reasoned decision.
In a unanimous opinion, the court reversed the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, which said the gap in questioning, along with the fact that the defendant was represented by assigned counsel by the time he confessed, eliminated the taint of the clearly improper, marathon interrogation.
